Falling In
by lemonpeel
Summary: Finn has been a firefighter in NY for about a year. He saves a person from a burning building for the first time, based solely on a feeling he had. She turns out to be just the thing that's been missing from his life.  AU Finchel.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So I know I said that I wanted to write about Finn and Rachel in NY after high school as my next fic, but I saw a prompt on tumblr that just screamed out at me and was begging to be written. I think it's going to turn out to be about 5 or 6 chapters. Maybe more, but I guess I'll see how people respond to it. Please review! :)**

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><p><em>Every time I see your face<em>  
><em>My heart takes off on a high speed chase<em>  
><em>Now don't be scared, it's only love<em>  
><em>Baby, that we're falling in <em>

_~ Lifehouse (Falling In_)

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><p>He doesn't know what made him do it.<p>

One minute he was helping control the hose that was shooting water at the smoke and flames of the burning building, and the next he was rushing in because he had a feeling—call it intuition, a sixth-sense, or a gut feeling, but there was something pulling him into that burning theatre. He knew there was someone in there that he was meant to save.

He ignores the shouts coming from behind him and runs into the building. He's momentarily blinded as he tries to run through the smoke filling the area, but pushes forward in the direction his gut is taking him to. He finds himself surrounded by fallen beams while particles still fall from the ceiling. He keeps going until he sees a small movement from the corner of his eye.

He runs to the movement and notices a tiny figure almost completely covered in bits of debris. He quickly throws the ruined stage props off of them until he sees the small body of a woman, her eyes seeming to go in and out of focus as the fumes threaten to suffocate her. As gently as he can, he lifts her in his arms and runs back the way he came.

After that, it's all kind of a blur. He remembers the paramedic taking the girl from him and rushing her into an ambulance. He vaguely remembers the pat on the back Puck gives him, and the look on his captain's face as he tells him to never run in like that without warning again and abandon his assigned duty, but that he's proud of him.

Finn just watches as the girl he saved—the first person he's ever saved on the job, actually—is given an oxygen mask while the paramedic checks her over. Her face and body are covered in soot and she still looks slightly disoriented. Almost as if she can feel his stare, though, her eyes slowly look up and lock with his. He feels a shock go through his whole body and can't bring himself to tear his gaze away from her bright brown eyes. It's as if the rest of the world falls away and all he feels is a warm sensation bubble up in his chest as something tightens around his heart.

He's brought out of his trance abruptly as the other guys in his company call for him to help re-fold the hose as they prepare to head back to the station. The next time he has a chance to look over, he realizes his brown-eyed girl is nowhere to be found—the ambulance she was in was making its way to the hospital.

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><p>"Finn? Yo, Hudson!"<p>

He shoots his head up as he hears the voice of his best friend shout at him. It's been hours since they reported to the fire down at the theatre and he's had the image of that brunette in his head the entire time. He sits now, on a chair in the lounge as he contemplates what to do. His shift ended about 10 minutes ago and now he sits here in jeans and an FDNY hoodie.

Puck sits down next to him and waves a hand in front of his face. "Hello? Earth to Finn. Dude, I thought you'd be on cloud nine right now, knowing you saved someone from that building. How the hell did you even know she was in there?"

Finn looks up at Puck, the guy he's known pretty much his entire life, and shrugs. "I don't know. Would you believe me if I told you it was just this…weird feeling? Like one minute I was concentrating on something and the next, I felt this pull to go in there."

Puck just stared at him. "Huh. Well, whatever it was, good job man. Just don't run in there without saying anything next time. Seriously, Captain looked like he was going to run in and take you out himself. We didn't know what to do." He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hey, Quinn's busy tonight—something about a girl's only movie night or some shit. Wanna go grab a beer?"

Finn shook his head, "Nah, I think I wanna go to the hospital to see how that girl is doing. I've never saved someone like that before and I feel like I need to make sure she's still ok."

"Yeah, sure. I'm gonna see if Sam wants to get a drink. I'll see you at home then?" asked Puck.

Finn nods and gets up to stretch slightly before offering Puck a fist bump and makes his way out of the firehouse.

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><p>As Finn walks into the hospital (he asked his captain, Paul, which hospital the people injured from the fire were taken to) he remembers that he has no idea what the girl's name is. He clutches the bouquet of flowers he bought and contemplates his options for a second before he just decides to go for it. He walks up to the nurse's desk and waits for the attendant to notice him.<p>

"Can I help you?" asks the old woman at the desk.

"Yeah, um, I'm looking for a girl. But I don't know her name," he trails off awkwardly at the raised eyebrow the woman is giving him. "Let me start over. See, I'm a firefighter. I was on the scene today for the fire down on 15th and I saved a woman. I didn't get a chance to get her name or anything and I want to make sure that she's alright. She's the first person I've ever saved on the job before. And we just kind of had this weird connection thing and—"

He stopped abruptly as he realized he was rambling and smiled sheepishly at the lady behind the counter.

"I'm not supposed to do this," she said, "but you're just adorable and I'm honored that you are a firefighter in this city, risking your life to help others. I'm more than sure the girl you're talking about is in room 139—all I've heard from her is about the heroic firefighter that saved her life that she'll never get a chance to see again." She laughs at the look of astonishment on Finn's face and continues, "Go straight down this hall, turn to the right, and it'll be the last door on your left. Good luck." She gives him a wink and turns back to her computer.

"Wow, uh, thanks," he shakes his head slightly and makes his way down the hall. She remembered him saving her? Did she remember the look they had shared? He's brought out of his thoughts as he reached the door marked 139. He takes a deep breath. He didn't even know what he was going to say to her. Clutching the flowers tightly, he knocked lightly on the door before stepping into the room.

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><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to tell me what you thought!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I just really have to say thank you so much to everyone that reviewed chapter 1! I'm glad people seem to like the story so far. I hope you enjoy the second chapter, and don't forget to review! I really do appreciate them all. :)**

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><p>"You better have a really good explanation for getting your ass stuck in a burning building, Berry!"<p>

Rachel rolled her eyes as her best friend walked through the door. She had just gotten settled in her room at the hospital. "I was by myself in my dressing room and I didn't realize anything was wrong until I heard shouts. I tripped on some of the rope backstage and one of the huge stage props fell on me. Before I knew it, the smoke was getting stronger and I couldn't breathe." She looked up into Santana's face and stuck out her tongue. "I'm fine now, San. No big deal."

Santana sat down in the chair by the bed, propping her feet up next to Rachel's legs. "Is your arm ok?" she gestured to Rachel's left arm, currently wrapped in a sling.

"Yes," Rachel replied. "It's just a small sprain. Nothing major. And they had me on oxygen for a while, but I can breathe fine on my own now. They just want to keep me overnight just for observation."

Rachel thought back to when she was trapped—she remembered trying to shout out to someone for help but by then the rest of the theatre had been evacuated. Her eyes watered as she fought to stay conscious enough to move but it became too much. Then, by some miracle, she saw a firefighter coming towards her. She remembered him carrying her out, all the while whispering reassurances to her that she was alright. She hadn't gotten a good look at him until they were out and she was being put on a stretcher and given an oxygen mask. She felt groggy and only slightly conscious, but something had made her look up and into the eyes of the tall fireman who had rescued her. His face was slightly blackened from the smoke and debris, but she could tell he was extremely handsome. His eyes sparkled as he stared at her and she could feel a spark ignite in her heart. She had watched as the other firemen called him away. She was put into the back of the ambulance and it took off towards the hospital, Rachel wondering if she'd ever see her hero again.

"Hello? Rachel, are you listening?"

Snapping her head up abruptly, she looked at Santana in confusion. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

Santana raised her eyebrow at her. "Whatever put that dreamy look on your face better be good. Did you meet some hunky firefighter, or what?"

"Something like that," Rachel chuckled.

"Woah, what?" asked Santana in surprise. "I wants the dirty details, Berry. And I wants them now."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's nothing like that. But, well, the fireman that saved me—he was so cute," she gushed. "I never got a chance to meet him, but we shared this look from afar and I swear I felt this weird feeling, like it was fate or something. Does that even make sense? Oh well, it's not like I know his name." She frowned at that, how would she ever be able to thank him?

"Wanky," Santana replied, playfully fanning herself. Rachel laughed at her friend and raised her eyebrow. "What? Just because I like girls doesn't mean I can't appreciate a nice man in a uniform every now and then." She winked.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, changing the conversation, "please tell me you didn't call my dads."

Santana shook her head, "No, I didn't call your dads. I was about two seconds away from calling until I got here. I was really worried." She gave Rachel a serious look now. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Rach."

Rachel nodded. She was one of the only people that knew Santana had a big heart underneath all the make-up and the bitchy attitude. They had been friends since their junior year in high school. They had been in glee club together, and despite their differences at first, they were paired up for a duet competition that year and totally rocked it. They had been best friends ever since. "I promise, I will never scare you like that again."

"Good," Santana nodded and made herself comfortable in her chair and pulled a few magazines out of her bag. She handed one to Rachel, who began flipping through the pages. Although she tried, she couldn't concentrate on anything except her thoughts of her handsome, heroic firefighter.

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><p>Hours later, after visits from Artie, Tina, Mike, and a few of her castmates, Rachel was all alone in her room. She had entertained them all (and even the two nurses that were looking after her) with her story about the brave firefighter with a cute face that had saved her in her time of need—the actress in her appreciated the drama of it all. She remembered the look in his eyes and wondered if he had felt that electric spark when their eyes met. She sighed, it didn't change the fact that she would never see him again.<p>

Resigning herself to a night of pure boredom by herself, as Santana had to go home once visiting hours were over, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to get some sleep. She vaguely wondered how much damage had been done to the theatre. They were putting on a production of West Side Story, Rachel in the lead as Maria. The show hadn't been set to go on for another 2 weeks, but who knew how long it would be until the theatre was ready again after the fire.

She had begun to slip into a small slumber, but picked her head up as she heard a small knock on the door. She sat up a little bit and was shocked at the person that stood in the doorway—it was her fireman; the same man that saved her hours previous looked at her now, in jeans and a blue FDNY hoodie, holding a pretty bouquet of flowers in his hand. He offered her a small smile and slowly walked closer.

"Um, hi," he said nervously. "I don't know if you remember me, but—"

"I remember you!" she cringes as her loud voice cuts him off. She clears her throat, embarrassed, "Sorry, I um, yes, yes, I remember you." She smiles up at him shyly, a blush slowly growing on her cheeks.

He laughs slightly and hands her the flowers. "These are for you. I wanted to come by and make sure you were alright. My name is Finn, by the way. Finn Hudson."

She takes the flowers gently and gives him a bright smile. "Thank you, they're beautiful. It's nice to meet you, Finn. I'm Rachel Berry."

"It's nice to meet you, Rachel," Finn smiles at her while she stares up at him, in awe of how hot he is. His hair is slightly disheveled and he has a little bit of scruff on his face, but as she looks into his eyes again, she can't help but think it all makes him even more attractive. "So how are you doing?"

"Oh! Right," she said, remembering his reason for being in her room. "I'm doing fine. They just wanted to keep me overnight to make sure I could breathe ok and my arm just has a minor sprain. I really need to thank you for what you did today. I don't think I'd be alive if you hadn't saved me."

"No need to thank me," Finn said. "It's my job. I became a firefighter to help save people. You _are_ the first person I've ever saved, though," he admitted.

"Really?" she asked incredulously. "How long have you been a firefighter?"

He sat down in the chair beside her bed. "I've been a firefighter for about a year now," he replied. "And it's definitely been tough, but I love my job."

She smiles at him. "Well I'm really glad you decided to be a fireman. Who knows where I'd be if you weren't!"

He just laughs at that, smiling sheepishly. "But what about you?" he asked. "What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm an actress," she said. "And I'm going to be on Broadway someday, you know—it's been my dream since I was a little girl."

She smiled at the small chuckle he gave her. "Well that would definitely explain what you were doing in the theatre, then." The shared a laugh and went on talking. Rachel thought it felt as if she had known him forever.

She learned that he had graduated from college with a degree in communications, but months after graduation, he still hadn't found a suitable job.

"So where did the firefighter thing come into play?" she asked, genuinely interested.

"I was just walking down the street one day with my friend Puck," he explained, "and we saw a group of firefighters talking about the job. After listening to them talk about it, I knew I wanted to sign up. Puck did, too. I loved the idea of helping people and giving back. It all kind of went from there. I guess not all of us grow up knowing exactly what we want to be." He winked at her playfully and she laughed, slapping his arm slightly.

Rachel told him more about herself too—like how she graduated from college a mere four months ago and had stared in a few of the plays at school, but began auditioning for off-Broadway shows as soon as she could. She was thrilled when she got the lead of Maria from West Side Story at the Vineyard Theatre.

"Do you know what caused the fire?" she asked him suddenly.

He nodded slightly, "There was some faulty wiring around the stage area with the lighting. It quickly caught some of the curtains on fire and most of the stage and backstage area. That was actually where most of the damage was. I'd bet the theatre can be up and running again in a couple of months." She nodded her head slightly, relieved.

She saw him look down at his watch now. "Wow, it's almost midnight," he said. "I really should let you get some rest." She really wanted to tell him to stay longer, to hell with rest, but she could feel her body fighting her for sleep.

"Yeah, ok," she said. She smiled at him gently as he got up. "Thank you again."

"You're welcome," he replied with an adorable half-smile that made her swoon. "I hope you feel better, get some rest." He turned to the door but stopped. "Can I- um, can I see you again?"

She looked at the hopeful expression on his face and imagined hers looked much the same. "I'd really like that." Her heart stopped for a second at how much his face brightened.

"Ok, great," he pulled out his phone to get her number. She grabbed her own from the table beside her. Each took the other's phone to input their number and she couldn't resist putting in a heart by her name (along with the typical gold star she always put). That wasn't too forward, was it?

"Here you go!" she said brightly, before she could change her mind. He handed her own phone back to her.

"I should really be going now," he said, walking backwards slowly. "I'll call you soon." She just nodded and giggled as his shoulder hit the doorframe.

"Bye, Finn," she said softly.

"Bye, Rachel," he replied, giving her one last smile before walking out the door.

She waited for a good two minutes, when she thought he was for sure out of earshot, and let out a giant squeal. He was amazing. He was so adorable and sweet and funny and just…she couldn't even think of the right word to describe him, other than perfect. Plus, he was a hunky fireman who saved her life—how often did _that_ happen?

It had been awhile since she had actually had a genuine interest in a guy. The last guy she had dated, Jesse St. James, had turned out to be a real douche bag. They had dated for a couple of months until she had finally broken up with him, unable to stand how self-centered and rude he turned out to be. Before that, she had only dated a few guys on and off, never quite connecting with any of them. She remembered a drunken night not too long ago, where she voiced her decision to give up men entirely. Santana had jokingly tried telling her she should just become a lesbian while Tina had put her arm sympathetically around Rachel's shoulders. Tina and Mike had been together since their sophomore year of college and Rachel had to admit she sometimes got jealous of the relationship her other best friend had.

She sighed wistfully as she lay there, thinking about Finn. Maybe her luck with guys was about to turn around. She heard her phone beep beside her, signaling a new message. Assuming it was just Santana, she grabbed her phone and almost did a double take. It was a message from Finn, and just as she had added a heart to her own name in his phone, he had done the same to his own name on her phone. Giggling, she opened the message, _'Just wanted to wish you good night. :) I had a great time talking with you. Can't wait to do it again.'_

She quickly sent him back her own message, _'I had a great time, too. Maybe we can grab coffee later this week. Good night, Finn. :)'_

Yes, she thought, her luck with guys was definitely turning around.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry this chapter took a little longer than expected...school has seriously been kicking my butt lately. But thank you SO much for the reviews on the previous chapters. It's really nice knowing when someone likes what you've worked so hard on! :) I changed the rating to 'M' for sexy-ish themes and Puck's language. Lol. Don't forget to let me know how you liked this chapter! I'll try to get a new one out before Saturday.  
><strong>

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><p>Finn yawned as he slowly made his way up the three flights of stairs to his and Puck's apartment. He had just gotten home from a particularly grueling shift at the firehouse and now wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep the day away. He let his thoughts wander to the last week—the fire at the Vineyard theatre, when he saved Rachel, had been just four days ago and they had talked every day ever since. Although they had yet to see each other face to face again, they texted each other constantly and had talked on the phone many times. Just thinking about her brought a tender smile to his face. She was without a doubt, the most amazing girl he'd ever met. She was so different than the other girls he'd dated in the past.<p>

Most of them had been extremely superficial and never made any effort into liking things he was interested in. His last girlfriend, Anna, whom he had been dating when he started as a fireman, had constantly complained about his choice of career.

"But I thought you were going to be some big-shot sports caster," she had said. "How are you supposed to buy me things on a stupid firefighter's salary?" He had ended it with her then and there.

He reached his door now and sluggishly made his way inside to his bedroom. He stripped down to his boxers and sighed in relief as he crawled into bed, ready to get some much-needed sleep…

"_I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you for saving me, Finn," said the goddess in front of him._

"_You're so brave," she pressed kisses all over his face._

"_And _so_ sexy," she moved her kisses lower to his chest and shoulders._

"_Mmm, and you feel so good," she straddled his lap now. Her brown hair was loose and flowing around her. His hands slowly came up to caress her sides and he noticed that she was wearing a black lace bra and panty set._

_He could feel the heat from between her thighs against his crotch, and the hard points of her nipples against his chest and he groaned as he took her lips in a hard kiss._

_She broke the kiss to let out a gasp as one of his hands buried itself in her hair while he moved his mouth and began pressing small, teasing kisses to her neck. "Finn, please. I want you _so_ bad," she whimpered and slowly began rocking her hips._

_He groaned into her neck and slowly sucked on her pulse point. She threw her head back and moved her hips faster now, pushing her chest up to his face._

"_You are so gorgeous," he said, pressing a kiss between her breasts. He ran his hands up to unclasp her bra and looked up in surprise as he heard a loud ring. She didn't seem to notice, and pushed his head back to where it was. The ringing was getting louder._

"_Rachel? What is that? Rachel?"_

He shot up with a start, a loud ringing coming from somewhere to his right. Still disoriented and slightly confused (not to mention slightly aroused), he rubbed his eyes and looked around for the source of the noise. He saw his phone resting on his bedside table lit up with an incoming call. He picked it up to see it was his stepbrother, Kurt.

He glanced at his alarm clock; it was already noon.

"Hey Kurt," he answered, his voice rough from sleep.

"Were you asleep?" asked Kurt.

"Yeah, I just got off my shift this morning." He yawned and got up slowly. He stretched and made his way to the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What's up?"

"Well, our parent's anniversary is coming up next month and I wanted to plan a celebratory dinner for them," said Kurt. Finn pulled out a bowl, a spoon, and the box of cornflakes before sitting down on a bar stool at the island in the kitchen. "I just wanted to know what you thought of that idea."

"I think a nice dinner would be cool," Finn spoke through a mouthful of cereal.

His mom, Carole, had married Kurt's dad, Burt, when Finn and Kurt were in high school. The family had some difficulties at first—both Finn and Kurt didn't like the idea of their parents dating and forgetting about their deceased spouses, but eventually it had worked out for the better. Finn had gotten the dad he had always secretly longed for to go to games with and watch action movies with. Kurt, on the other hand, was finally able to have a parent he could shop and watch romantic comedies with (not that his dad hadn't made a hilarious effort). "Where should we have it?" he asked.

Kurt proceeded to talk his ear off about possible restaurants, acceptable gift ideas, and dress attire for the event. They ended the phone conversation about an hour later, Finn only remembering a third of what Kurt told him.

He was sitting on the couch now, remote in hand, searching for something to watch and finally settled on one of their many sports channels. Finn picked up his phone in his hand and scrolled through recent texts he had exchanged with Rachel. He smiled softly as he read through their conversation about movies—she had been offended to learn that he had never really seen any musicals aside from a few like Grease or RENT. Funny Girl, she told him, was the greatest musical ever made—the greatest movie ever made, in fact, which starred her idol, Barbra Streisand. He had retaliated, though, with his offense at the fact that she had never seen Braveheart or any of the Star Wars movies. A movie marathon was definitely in their future after that conversation.

Smiling to himself, he typed out a quick message to her. He had no idea if she had plans tonight, but he needed to talk face to face with her again. He couldn't get her bright smile and pretty brown eyes out of his head.

'_Hi, Finn! :) How was your shift?'_

'_Tiring…I got home at seven this morning and slept until noon. How has your day been?'_ He settled down on the couch in a more comfortable position now before he noticed his phone was ringing with a call from her.

"Couldn't stand not hearing my voice, huh?" he teased as soon as he answered.

She laughed and he could almost see her rolling her eyes, "I think it makes much more sense for us to talk on the phone. It's barely 2:30 in the afternoon and I've already had the most eventful day!"

And so he listened as she told him about how she had woken up, successfully made a delicious breakfast for herself and roommate/best friend, Santana, and gone down to a little music store not far from her building that she had worked at for a while when she was in college.

"Oh, it's just the cutest little place, Finn! They sell old records, CDs, music books, and even have a collection of Broadway playbills. You'll have to come by one day," she said. She told Mr. Schuester, the owner, all about her ordeal and how the theatre wasn't going to be up and running again for another four months. He graciously told her she was welcome to work there again until the theatre was ready.

"He's such a sweet old man, really," she sighed. "You know, he never had any kids of his own, but he and his wife, Emma, are just the cutest, happiest couple I've ever seen." Finn chuckled and told her he'd be sure to visit her there soon.

"So I helped him around the shop today and you will NEVER guess what happened!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" he asked, loving the way she told stories.

"Well, I was minding my own business at the register," she explained, "reading a magazine, when a little girl and her mom came into the store. She couldn't have been more than about six and was just so adorable. Well, she looked up at me and her little eyes got really big and she started tugging on her mom's arm saying, 'that's her, Mommy!' I was so confused!"

"So what happened?" Finn asked, curious.

"They came over to me and she asked me if I was Rachel Berry. I was shocked but said that yes, I was. She started jumping up and down and told me I was her idol!" she squealed now, so excited.

"Wait, but how does she know you?" Finn was confused.

"At school, the drama department would put on a musical each year for the kids of some of the nearby elementary schools," she explained. "My senior year I played Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Apparently, this little girl—Jessica—had gone to see the play with her third grade class and loved it so much. She told me she wanted to be just like me when she grew up, Finn! How amazing is that?" she was so excited now and he laughed at the squeal she let out.

"That's really awesome, Rach."

"I know!" she exclaimed. "I was just so touched. Her mom told me she wouldn't stop talking about the play for at least weeks after and she would go around singing all the songs. They asked for my autograph and everything!"

"Well sounds like good practice for when you're a big star on Broadway," he chuckled.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Finn," she giggled.

Their laughter slowly died down into a comfortable silence. "So, um... do you have any plans tonight?" Finn asked, slightly nervous.

"Nope," came her hesitant reply.

"Would you maybe like to go out to dinner with me tonight?" He fumbled with the loose threads of one of the pillows on the couch, anxious to hear her answer.

"I'd love that," she said. Finn had to physically restrain himself from jumping in joy at her reply.

"Great! I'll pick you up at eight then?" he did his best to keep his voice calm but he didn't think it came out that way by the sounds of her light laughter.

"Sounds good. I'll text you directions to my apartment," she said. She may have laughed at him, but he could detect the eagerness she was trying to mask as well.

"I guess I better let you go now," he said finally, looking at the clock to see it was nearing four o'clock.

"Alright," she said. "I'm really excited to see you tonight, Finn." Her voice sounded shy all of a sudden and he felt butterflies in his stomach at the thought of seeing her again in a few hours.

"I'm really excited to see you too." They hung up after quick goodbyes and he pumped his fist in the air at his success, huge grin still in place.

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><p>Finn took a deep breath as he looked at his reflection. He was dressed in jeans and a nice button-down, and still had that goofy smile on his face that had refused to leave after his early phone call with Rachel. It was nearly time for him to leave to go pick her up and his nerves were starting to kick in.<p>

Walking back into the living room, he noticed the front door opening to reveal Puck and his girlfriend, Quinn.

"Hey, man," said Puck.

"Hi, Finn," came Quinn's greeting. She eyed his attire suspiciously. "Where are you off to tonight?"

"Err…I kind of have a date."

"How the hell do you _kind of_ have a date, Hudson?" Puck asked him with a smirk. "Is it that Rachel chick you saved and haven't stopped talking to since?"

"Wait, what?" Quinn eyed the two of them in confusion. "What haven't you told me?"

Finn had known Puck and Quinn longer than anyone else (besides Kurt). They had all gone to high school together. Finn and Quinn had been the ones to date first—they had been the cliché quarterback/head cheerleader couple. Their relationship had ended abruptly after only two months when he found out she had cheated on him with his best friend. They had all gotten over it after awhile and remained close friends. Finn had known deep down that he and Quinn didn't go well together and she seemed to be the only one that could tame the 'Puckasaurus,' as Puck liked to refer to himself.

"He saved a girl from a fire on Tuesday—apparently a real hottie—and they've been talking on the phone and shit everyday since," Puck explained, grabbing a beer from the fridge, while Finn stood there awkwardly.

Quinn raised her eyebrows and looked at him, "Well first of all, congratulations on rescuing someone, Finn. That's really great." She gave him a smile and continued, "And second, I want to meet her!"

"Fuck yes, I second that!" chimed in Puck.

"Woah, woah. None of you are meeting her yet. I haven't even known her a full week!" Finn shook his head quickly. "We're barely going on our first date tonight."

Puck and Quinn still looked at him expectantly.

"Oh come on, dude. It's been a long time since you've really been into a girl. I think we all remember the disaster that was that bitch, Anna," said Puck. "This new girl is different. I've fucking seen you smile more these last few days than in the last month and way more than with any other girl you've dated. You said yourself that there was something special about her—remember when you rescued her? You told me you had felt this like weird connection bullshit. That doesn't happen every day, bro."

Finn sighed. He really didn't want to stay and talk about this; he needed to leave to get Rachel now if he didn't want to be late.

"Whatever. We'll see how it goes, ok? I need to take off to get her now."

He grabbed his jacket and his phone before waving bye to Puck and Quinn and leaving out the door.

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><p>"Are you seriously just gonna stand there or are you going to knock?"<p>

Finn looked up, startled to see a woman with long dark hair glaring at him with a hand on her hip. He had been standing in front of Rachel's apartment door for about five minutes, trying to settle the nerves in his stomach and just knock.

"Excuse me?"

"You must be Finn," the stranger said. "I am Santana, and that is my apartment door you've been staring at."

Realization dawned on Finn that this was Rachel's best friend. "Err, right. Sorry. I'm just a little nervous."

She rolled her eyes, pushed past him, and unlocked the door. "Rach! Your extremely tall date is here!" She yelled out to the apartment. She turned around to see he had yet to move. "So are you coming in or not, Frankenteen?"

Confused at her choice of nickname, he nodded and stepped into the apartment. He heard Rachel's laugh from somewhere to his left. "Oh gosh, Santana, please be nice! I'll be right out."

Finn stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen/living area. The apartment definitely felt feminine—there were fresh flowers on top of nearly every flat surface like the coffee table and end table by the door. There were a lot of photos scattered throughout the apartment as well. Finn took the time to look at some on a nearby wall. He saw pictures of Rachel with Santana in graduation gowns that had to have been from when they were in high school. There was a picture of Rachel with two men—he assumed these were her fathers. She had told him the story of how her two gay dads had hired a surrogate and that she had a very strained, if not slightly awkward current relationship with her mother. Still looking at the photos, he thought her bright face looked adorable in each and every one and he smiled at some of the silly ones.

"Ahem," he looked up to see Santana eying him from the couch. "Ok, so listen here, Frankenteen. That girl in there is my best friend. She's been there for me through a lot of things and I may be a one hundred percent complete bitch, but I have to admit her crazy brings out a different side to me and makes me care and watch out for her."

She paused now and looked to see if he was paying close attention before continuing. "And I know you've only known each other for like a week, but there's something about you that makes her completely brighten up like I've never seen—which is saying something because she could give a sugar-high toddler a run for their money. So I'm going to warn you now; hurt her in _any_ way and I will hurt you. I grew up in the wrong part of town and I'm one tough-ass Latina." She gave him such a hard look that Finn nervously grabbed his neck and swallowed.

"Uh, yeah, no," he stuttered. "I really, really like her and I swear I have no intention of hurting her." He stared right back at Santana now, hoping she understood he was genuine. She must have, because she gave a slight nod of her head and stood up.

"Well then! I'll go see what's taking the munchkin so long," she said and walked down the hallway he heard Rachel's voice coming from.

Finn was back to standing up awkwardly in the room, wondering how in the world Rachel's best friend was the complete opposite of her. He supposed it was like him and Puck—you never really choose who your friends are, it's just whoever stays by you through everything.

"Ok, I'm ready," he heard Rachel's voice and his eyes grew wide as he looked up. She stood there in a pretty dark purple dress, complete with black heels that made her legs look a thousand miles long while her brown hair lay loose and curled around her shoulders.

"You look…amazing," he said in awe. She seemed to be taking in his appearance as well and grinned.

"You look amazing, too," she said. He noticed now that her arm was still in the sling he had seen that day at the hospital.

"Is your arm still hurting you?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, it's fine," she said. "I'm just supposed to keep it on for a few more days just in case. It actually doesn't hurt very much anymore. I just want to be sure."

He helped her into her coat and she smiled at him in thanks before walking over to the coffee table to grab her purse. He couldn't help stare at her legs as she bent over slightly. "Ready to go?" she asked, snapping him out of his daze.

"Oh! Right. Yeah," he said. He couldn't get over how amazing she looked and whipped around quickly when he heard Santana let out a snort of amusement.

"You kids have fun! Don't stay out to late," Santana mocked and began to shoo them out of the apartment.

"Bye, San!" Rachel called as they walked out, Finn's hand placed gently on her back.

"Nice meeting you," Finn said.

Santana just nodded and stuck her tongue out playfully at Rachel before closing the door, leaving just Rachel and Finn.

"We better get going—we have reservations at eight thirty," Finn said, guiding Rachel to the stairs.

"Ooh, where are we going?" she asked excitedly.

Finn smiled at her eagerness. "You'll see," he said.

She pouted playfully but smiled up at him as they continued down and out of the building.

"Here we are," Finn said minutes later as they stood in front of the restaurant. He had spent all day planning the perfect date for her and he knew that she'd love this place. It was a small, kind of hole in the wall place that served amazing Italian food and had a really romantic atmosphere at night.

"Oh, I've never been here before," she murmured as they were seated at their table. She thanked him as he pulled her chair out for her. "You're so chivalrous, Finn."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "You're really going to love it here. The food is amazing."

They had given the waiter their drink and food orders a few moments later and now Finn simply stared at her from across the table.

"What?" she asked nervously. "Is there something on my face?"

He laughed. "No, no," he assured her. "You just look so pretty tonight."

Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink that he could still make out in the dim lighting and rewarded him with a wide smile.

"Well you look pretty handsome tonight yourself, Mr. Hudson. But tell me more about yourself," she said. "Did you grow up here in New York?"

He nodded, "I'm from Long Island but I came to the city for college. I love being in the city, but my parents still live over there so it's nice being able to go back every once in a while and escape all the noise." She nodded along as he spoke, taking small sips from her wine. "What about you?" he asked.

"I grew up in Rochester," she said. "I came here to go to NYU and I absolutely adore the city. My dads still live over there, though. It's not as close as Long Island, obviously, but it's still nice to know they're a few hours away."

Their food arrived sometime later and they talked more about life growing up. She had squeezed his hand gently while he told her about how his dad had passed away while fighting in Desert Storm when he was only a baby. It had been tough growing up without a father figure, but that had changed once his mom married Burt.

"My stepbrother, Kurt, actually lives in the city too with his boyfriend, Blaine," Finn told her. "So you're more than likely going to meet him pretty soon. He was never good at keeping his nose out of my business," he laughed.

"Now that I think about it, you'd probably get along with him really well—he loves all the musicals and drama and stuff."

"Oh really?" she asked, surprised. "What does he do now?"

"Well I know he wants to be a fashion designer or something, but he works as an assistant for some designer right now," Finn said. "And Blaine is studying at Columbia Law School," he added.

Her face brightened up at that and he gave her a confused look. "What?"

"Santana is going to Columbia law!" she said excitedly. "She says that her attitude will be most beneficial in a court room. Do you think they've ever met?"

"I doubt it, Rach," he laughed. "There are a lot of students."

"Hmm," she murmured thoughtfully. "You never know."

The waiter came by with their check and Finn handed him his credit card.

"Thank you so much for dinner, Finn," Rachel said. "You were right, the food was just wonderful."

"I'm glad you liked it," Finn smiled. "But the night isn't over yet."

Rachel raised her eyebrow. "Oh no?" she asked.

"Nope," Finn shook his head. "I have another surprise for you."

"Finn, you really need to stop surprising me," she laughed.

"I think you'll like this one," he said as the waiter came back to hand Finn back his credit card.

Finn smiled as he felt her small, warm hand slip into his as they walked out of the restaurant. He swung them playfully as he hailed a cab with his other.

"Central Park?" she asked as she took in her surroundings when the cab was slowly coming to a stop sometime later.

"I thought it might be nice to take a walk," Finn explained, helping her out of the cab. "Would you rather go home?" he asked, worried suddenly that she might not want to stay out so late.

She shook her head, however, squeezing his hand and smiling up at him. "No, I'd love to take a walk with you."

He felt a tug on his heart at the gentle look on her face and the feeling of their fingers linked together. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head and started walking.

They walked for a while, keeping small talk, but mainly taking in the sights around them. At one point, Rachel leaned her head against his arm and he let out a small sigh of contentment.

"Let's stop here for awhile," he said, coming to stand in front of Bow Bridge. They stood side-by-side, still holding hands, and looked out across the lake.

"It's so beautiful out here," she murmured.

Finn nodded and slowly untangled his hand with hers to wrap his arm gently around her waist. She moved closer to him now, so that she was a little bit in front of him and he took that as a queue to wrap his other arm around her. He smiled as she leaned her head back against his chest and placed her right hand over one of his.

"You are so beautiful," he said quietly in her ear, pressing a kiss to her hair. She looked up at him with such a beaming smile and sparkle in her eyes that at that exact moment, Finn wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss her.

"You know, you can kiss me if you want to," she whispered, as if reading his thoughts.

"I want to," he murmured, slowly lowering his head. He gently placed his lips against hers and swore he star stars behind his eyelids. The warm bubble in his chest grew and made his body tingle all over. Her lips felt soft as they moved slowly against his and he gently brought one hand up to press against her cheek.

They broke apart and he stroked her cheek softly as her eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked up at him and bit down gently on her bottom lip.

Finn turned her around so her whole body was facing him and cupped her face with both hands while he stroked his thumbs lightly across her cheeks. "Would it be completely crazy for me to tell you that I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met and that I think I'm falling completely head over heels for you?" he asked quietly.

Rachel merely shook her head and reached up to cover one of his hands with her own. "I don't think it's crazy; I'd have to tell you the exact same thing."

He smiled and leaned down once more to kiss her—her lips were already so addicting. This kiss wasn't as gentle as the first. They moved their lips more forcefully against each other's and slowly his tongue came out to tease her. She allowed him entrance and brought her hand up to wrap around his neck while he pushed his own into her brown curls. She trapped his bottom lip between her own and tugged slightly and he had to force himself not to groan.

They broke for air and both their chests rose and fell rapidly. He couldn't help but think she looked incredibly sexy with her swollen lips and slightly mussed hair. He pressed another kiss to her forehead and her nose before giving her a small peck on the lips while he caught his breath. She turned back around to lean forward against the wall of the bridge and brought his arms up to once again wrap around her waist.

Finn pressed himself against her back and gently rested his chin against the top of her head.

"Finn?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm?" His arms tightened around her and he leaned down to press a kiss to her shoulder before burying his face in her hair and taking in her sweet smell.

"How did you know I was still in the theatre the day of the fire?" she asked.

He took a deep breath and rested his cheek against hers as he thought of how best to describe to her what he had felt.

"Well, it might sound crazy," he began, "but all of a sudden I was drawn into the building by some feeling I had. I really don't know how to describe it. There was just this overwhelming need to go in there because something was telling me that there was someone in there that I was meant to save."

He felt her breathe in and out slowly against his chest before she reached down to take his hand in hers and press a kiss to his palm.

"And now here we are," she whispered.

He nodded. "Nowhere else I'd rather be," he whispered back.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Super sorry that this took so long! But I hope it was worth the wait. Thank you so, so much about all the positive reviews for this story and please tell me if you liked this update! The reviews motivate me to get updates out sooner. :) Oh, and if you're not familiar with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, one part may be a little confusing for you. Sorry!  
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* * *

><p>"I had a great time tonight, Finn," Rachel smiled up at the tall, very handsome man before her.<p>

"I did too," he said, playing lightly with the fingers of the hand he still gripped in his. "Can I call you tomorrow?"

"I'd like that," she said while slowly inching closer, desperate to feel his lips against hers again.

Keeping a hold of her right hand, he brought his other hand to caress her cheek and leaned down to press another kiss against her lips. They broke apart and she reluctantly let go of his hand.

"Bye, Finn," she said, inching towards the door to her apartment building.

"Bye, Rachel," he said gave her the most adorable half-smile she had ever seen and she smiled back before turning to go in.

* * *

><p>Rachel felt like she was walking on air as she walked through the door of her apartment to see Santana curled up on the couch, watching a movie. She looked up as Rachel took off her coat off and toed off her heels.<p>

"I'd ask you how it went, but I can see clearly from the dazed look on your face that it went well," Santana sat up now and beckoned Rachel to sit with her.

"Oh my gosh, San," Rachel gushed, laying down on the couch and putting her head on Santana's lap, "he's amazing. And perfect. And adorable." She covered her face and let out a squeal.

Santana snorted and rolled her eyes. "Where did he take you?" she asked, playing slightly with Rachel's hair.

"To this adorable little restaurant that served delicious Italian food," Rachel said. "And then we went for a walk in Central Park. It was all just so perfect." She sighed wistfully.

Santana just nodded her head. "I'm glad you had a good time, Munchkin."

"I really did, San," Rachel sighed. "Finn has to be the sweetest guy I've ever met. And he's so kind. It's like I've been waiting my whole life to meet him and now that I have, I don't even remember what it was like without him in my life. Do you think it's too soon to feel like that?" She looked up at Santana now, waiting for her answer.

Santana shrugged slightly. "I guess when you know, you know," she said simply. "I'm happy for you, Rach. And it was totally worth scaring the shit out of Frankenteen."

"What?" Rachel laughed. "San, what did you tell him?"

"Just that I grew up on the wrong side of town and I was totally prepared to hurt him if he hurt you," Santana shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I know you're all happy and stuff now, but don't think I won't do it if anything happens."

"Aww," Rachel patted Santana's leg. "You're such a big softy. And you love me _sooooo_ much." She laughed now, as Santana flipped her off.

"Whatever," Santana said with a wave of her hand. "Now shut up and watch this movie with me."

Rachel turned her body so she was facing the TV, her head still in Santana's lap, and they watched the rest of Never Been Kissed.

* * *

><p>The sunlight streamed in through the curtains of Rachel's bedroom the next morning as she slowly began to stir. Stretching and lazily opening her eyes, she slowly began to remember the events of last night. She had gone on a date with Finn. Finn Hudson. The amazingly sexy fireman, Finn Hudson. She tried and failed to stop the huge grin that began to spread across her face. The night before had been like no other. The rational part of her brain was telling her that she barely knew him, but her heart was telling her it had found its counterpart. Hearing her phone buzz from somewhere on the bed, she reached under the blankets before she found it and her heart skipped a beat as she saw it was a text from just the man she had been thinking about.<p>

'_Morning, Beautiful! :) Are you awake? I wanted to know if you'd like to go out to breakfast.'_

She sighed happily at his term of endearment and replied, _'Morning! Just woke up and I'd love to go to breakfast.'_

His reply came quickly, saying he'd be over to pick her up in about an hour. She squealed as she jumped up to get ready. She was completely head over heels for this man already and she wasn't even ashamed of it.

* * *

><p>"You're kidding, right?" Finn asked as he and Rachel sat down sometime later, eating their breakfast.<p>

"No, I swear! I have never, in my entire 22 years of life, been to the zoo," Rachel replied as she ate a piece of melon from her plate. "My daddies tried taking me when I was little, but I never wanted to go. I used to have this irrational fear that the cages were going to just open by themselves and a snake would come and squeeze me to death. I'm deathly afraid of snakes, you know."

Finn just stared at her with wide eyes. "I cannot believe this. Going to the zoo is like one of the best things about being a kid!"

Rachel just laughed, "I'm guessing you loved the zoo, then?"

"Love," Finn replied. "As in present tense. I am definitely taking you to the zoo soon." He looked at her with such a look of determination now that she had to bite back her laughter.

"Ok, ok," she relented. "You can take me to the zoo. As long as you promise to save me if a snake tries to get to me."

"Of course, my lady," Finn joked.

They finished eating and decided to go back to Finn's apartment. "Puck and Quinn are going to visit Puck's mom so we can go watch movies, if you want," Finn said. Rachel nodded and grabbed Finn's hand when he offered it to her and they began the walk to his apartment a few blocks away.

* * *

><p>From her seat on Finn's couch, Rachel took the time to look around his apartment while he looked through his and Puck's DVD selection to find something to watch. The apartment definitely had masculine touches, unlike her and Santana's very feminine apartment, but it wasn't like there were posters of naked girls everywhere. They had dark furniture and a framed poster for the Knicks as well as a few pictures scattered in places. There was a pizza box on the counter and few beer bottles by the sink.<p>

"Ok, Braveheart or The Hangover?" Finn looked at her now holding the two movies up.

"Um, I guess Braveheart," Rachel answered. "You know, since we're going to watch movies I've never seen now, next time you have to watch musicals with me." She stuck out her tongue at him and he laughed.

"I'm ok with that if we get to watch my choices today," Finn put the movie in and took a spot next to her on the couch. Rachel immediately scooted closer and he lifted his arm to wrap it around her shoulders. "When do you go back to the doctor to get this thing off?" Finn asked as he fingered the strap of her sling.

"This Tuesday, actually," Rachel replied. "I have an appointment in the afternoon." Finn just nodded and pressed a kiss to her head as the movie began.

* * *

><p>"We are the knights who say…<em>NI!<em>" Rachel giggled uncontrollably as Finn got up to turn the movie off. They had just finished watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Finn laughed with her. "I'm glad you liked the movie." Although it wasn't her usual taste in movies, she really had enjoyed it; it was so funny.

"Are you hungry?" Finn asked her. It was already late in the afternoon and they hadn't eaten since this morning.

Rachel nodded and followed Finn as he searched through the fridge to find something to eat. "Err, I don't know what we have that you can eat," Finn said. "I mean I know you're a vegan but we don't exactly have a lot of stuff to begin with."

"Hmm," Rachel looked through his pantry and pulled out the peanut butter. "How about peanut butter sandwiches?"

"Yeah, sure, that sounds good, actually," Finn said as he took out plates and the bread.

"Do you have bananas?" Rachel asked as she began to spread the peanut butter on the bread.

"Uh, yeah, why?" Finn looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"I like putting pieces of banana in my peanut butter sandwiches," Rachel explained. "My daddy used to do it when I was little and I've just always liked them like that."

"Hm, food's food. I'll try anything," he said with a shrug and went to the fridge to get bananas.

As Rachel watched Finn, she couldn't help but think this was all so natural—the two of them making food together in his kitchen.

"Ok, all done," she said a few minutes later as she looked down at her one sandwich and Finn's three ("I'm a growing boy, Rach. I need a lot of food!" he had said). "But you don't get your plate until you get me a…shrubbery." She giggled at her own Monty Python reference.

"Hmm, I know what will weaken you," Finn said playfully as he slowly came closer with a sneaky look in his eyes. "It!"

"Noooo!" she yelled as she ran away from him.

He caught up with her as she reached the couch though, and he began tickling her, yelling "it!" over and over above her shrieks of laughter. They fell on the couch together in a heap and he still wouldn't let up his tickling.

"Finn! Finn, ok, I give up!" Tears streamed down her face now from her laughing and she suddenly realized the position they were in. She lay on her back while he crouched above her, his face just inches from hers. Almost as if he realized the same thing, they stared at each other and immediately the mood changed. Finn lightly brushed the tears away from her eyes and leaned down to capture her lips in an intense kiss. She let out a tiny moan and used her right hand to bring his face closer. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth as he groaned and kissed her harder. Their tongues slowly explored each other's mouths and he pushed her further into the couch.

They broke apart for air and Finn moved his kisses from her lips to her cheek and jaw, then to her neck. "Finn," she gasped as she ran her hand through his hair, grabbing it in between her fingers as he sucked on her skin. Her back arched as he found a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear.

Her insides felt like they were on fire as she pulled his face back to hers roughly. She kissed him intensely, as if she were drowning and his lips were the only things that could save her and he kissed her back just as hard. Her hand explored the hard planes of his chest and he let out a deep groan as she moved to suck lightly on his earlobe and whisper his name in his ear.

"Fuck, Rach," Finn whispered as his hand wandered down her side, lightly touching the skin of her stomach where her top had ridden up. "You're so hot."

"So are you," she whimpered and pressed her lips back against his. They continued like that, food forgotten, for some time until Rachel thought she would explode from all the heat. She could feel Finn's hard length against her as he slowly started grinding his hips into hers.

"Finn," she broke apart from his lips and he moved to press them back to her neck. "Finn, we should stop."

"But we're having so much fun," he whined and looked down at her with a pout on his already swollen lips.

"I know," she giggled, poking his nose, "but I think we're having a little bit too much fun."

He sighed, but nodded and helped her sit up, catching his breath. He looked over at her with a smirk, his hair sticking up in a bunch of different directions from her fingers, and she wanted nothing more than to jump on his lap and finish where they left off, but forced herself to calm down. She knew she was falling for him but she didn't want their physical relationship to go that fast too.

"Well," Finn said, getting up and taking their plates of previously forgotten food and bringing them back to the couch, "shall we eat and start the next movie?"

Rachel nodded and began eating her sandwich. She forced herself to behave as he bent over and she got an amazing view of the way the jeans he wore made his ass look.

* * *

><p>Rachel sighed as she combed her fingers through Finn's hair. They were curled up on the couch, his head resting on her stomach. The credits of Batman flashed on the screen, but she concentrated on Finn and feel of his hand slowly running up and down her thigh.<p>

"Mm, don't wanna move," he murmured, nuzzling his face further into her. She bit her lip and ran her finger along his forehead and nose. He looked up at her and the soft look in his eyes made her whole body feel warm.

Their tender moment was broken as the door swung open to reveal whom she could only assume was Puck. He stood in the doorway and stared at them in surprise before his mouth slowly morphed into a smirk.

"Puck! Why did y—oh!" A girl with blonde hair walked up beside him and her eyes took in the sight of Finn and Rachel curled up on the couch. "You must be Rachel," she said and walked over to them immediately. "I'm Quinn."

Rachel pushed Finn up, and stood up to offer Quinn her hand. "I'm Rachel Berry and it's very nice to meet you," she looked over at Puck now. "And you must be Noah."

"Call me Puck," Puck walked over, ignored Rachel's outstretched hand, and sunk down into the chair by the couch. "So what are we watching? Q, will you get me a beer from the fridge?"

"Seriously?" Quinn glared at him. "We're intruding, Puck."

"No, no!" Rachel said quickly. "It's ok. We've been watching movies all day. They've been all Finn's choice because our next movie marathon will be my turn and only musicals. We just finished watching Batman. And while it's not exactly my number one choice for a movie marathon, I must admit it was excellent. Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the joker was perfect. You're more than welcome to join us."

Rachel bit her lip nervously as she realized she had been rambling. Puck just stared at her in surprise while Finn let out a snort. Quinn shrugged and settled onto Puck's lap.

"Uh, yeah. Ok, what's next, then?" Puck looked at Finn with raised eyebrows. "Let's watch some Die Hard up in this piece."

"Eugh, no," Quinn groaned. "I've had to watch that movie with you two more times than any girl should ever be forced to."

Rachel laughed at that. "Well it's Finn's choice tonight." She looked up at Finn, who had yet to add anything to the conversation.

"Um, I was actually thinking about watching The Godfather," Finn said slowly.

"Fuck yes!" Puck said. "And I'm starving, too. Why don't we order Chinese?" He patted Quinn's leg and she stood up so he could get up. He walked over to the fridge to get the menu. "What do you like, Berry?"

"The tofu vegetable stir-fry would be great, Noah," she said politely.

"Why the fuck are you eating tofu?" Puck said with a disgusted face. "And seriously, call me Puck."

"Well you see, Noah, I'm a vegan," Rachel replied, refusing to call him by the name he asked. What kind of name was 'Puck' anyway? "So I don't eat any animal products."

"Whatever," he shrugged and took out his phone to place the order, already knowing what Quinn and Finn liked.

"I love that you're refusing to call him Puck," Quinn whispered to her. "It drives him absolutely nuts to be called Noah."

"Puck just sounds so silly to me," Rachel giggled. Finn came back to sit next to her on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He pressed a kiss against her cheek before asking Quinn how the trip to Long Island to visit Puck's mom went.

* * *

><p>Yawning slightly, Rachel snuggled further into Finn as they once again lay curled up against each other on the couch. He was stretched out on his back while she was wedged between him and the back of the couch. The feel of his hand slowly running up and down her back mixed with the smell of him was soothing her into sleep. Last she had checked, it was nearing midnight but she couldn't bring herself to get up and leave. Puck and Quinn were still sharing an armchair beside them and she could hear them talking quietly.<p>

Quinn had been really sweet to her so far, asking her about what she did, where she had gone to school, etc. They had been surprised to learn that they both frequently went to the same gym.

"I'm surprised I've never seen you there," Quinn had said. "I take a spinning class there on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Oh! My best friend, Santana, and I have been wanting to take a spinning class," Rachel said excitedly.

"You should join the one I'm in," Quinn said, "I go with my friend, Brittany. It's really intense, but so worth it. We just started going last week."

Puck, on the other hand, hadn't really asked her many questions yet. He and Finn just talked about regular guy things while she and Quinn chatted as they ate their Chinese. She noticed he kept watching the way she and Finn interacted with each other, though, and she couldn't help but be a bit curious. She'd just ask Finn later.

"Do you work tomorrow?" she mumbled faintly into Finn's shirt.

"Mmhmm. I go in at three," he murmured quietly, his own voice sounding tired.

"And your shifts are 24-hours, right?" Rachel asked. She felt Finn nod his head and she sighed.

"I really hate to, but I think I should go home now," Rachel said, but still didn't even bother moving an inch.

"No, stay," Finn whined sleepily, clutching her tighter.

She tried so hard not to give into sleep, but she could feel her body starting to shut down against Finn. He was just so warm and his arms around her made her feel so safe.

"Maybe a little while longer," her words came out jumbled now and she was slowly put to sleep by the beating of Finn's heart under her ear and the soothing motions of his fingers through her hair.

* * *

><p>She felt like she was flying. Or maybe she was floating. Whatever it was, it made her eyes fly open and attempt to take in her surroundings. Expecting to see her own comforter from her own bed, she was surprised to see a muscled chest in a red t-shirt.<p>

"Finn?" she yawned as she realized he was carrying her. "What time is it?"

"Shh," he whispered. "It's a little after three in the morning. We fell asleep on the couch."

He brought her into a bedroom—his bedroom. Her sleepy eyes tried to take in the room around her as Finn kneeled down in front of her.

"Do you want something more comfortable to wear?" he asked, gently caressing the skin around her eyes with his thumbs.

She nodded. "Yes, please. Thank you for letting me stay over." She smiled at him shyly now as he came back with a soft t-shirt that would probably reach all the way down to her knees.

He let out a small chuckle. "I don't mind at all. Do you want to sleep with this sling on?"

She shook her head no and he helped her undo the velcro and gently pulled it off of her. He pressed tiny kisses along her arm and she stretched it out a bit. It felt fine now, albeit a little sore if she moved it around too much.

Rachel looked at him now and lifted her arms for him to help her take off her blouse. She could see him take a deep breath as his hands slowly inched the material up until she was left in a pink cotton bra and her jeans. He pressed a kiss against her lips before helping her put on the t-shirt. She stood up now to take off her jeans and noticed Finn do the same. Their eyes remained trained on each other the whole time, but the contact broke as Finn moved to bring the covers of the bed down.

Almost as if the thought of lying down reminded her of how tired she was, Rachel let out another yawn and immediately curled up between the warm blankets.

She looked up at Finn, who stood now in nothing but his boxers and t-shirt, looking down at her. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing. I just like seeing you wearing my shirt and lying in my bed," he said sheepishly.

She smiled and motioned for him to lay down with her. He got between the covers and let out a sigh as he curled himself around her, his chest against her back and his legs molding to the back of hers.

"Goodnight, baby," he whispered in her ear and placed a kiss against her hair.

"Mm, goodnight, Finn," she laced her fingers through his and brought his hand up to press her lips against his knuckles. Almost immediately, she fell back into a deep sleep, feeling happy and content.

* * *

><p>Three blissful weeks had passed since the night Rachel spent the night at Finn's. She had loved the feeling of waking up tangled up with him. Rachel found herself falling further and further for Finn Hudson. They had been on countless dates now and talked nearly every day. She had even shown up at the firehouse one day when Finn was on duty to drop off some of the banana bread she had baked for him. Apparently he, and a few of the other fireman in his company had finished the entire thing in about fifteen minutes.<p>

She had even seen Quinn. She and Santana had joined Quinn and her friend, Brittany for the spinning class at their gym. They had all gotten along really well—Santana and Brittany, especially. Rachel had felt happier these last few weeks than she had in a very long time.

She bit her lip nervously now as she walked with Finn down the sidewalk to the restaurant they were supposed to meet Kurt and Blaine at. She had yet to meet them and she was nervous they wouldn't like her.

Sensing her nerves, Finn squeezed her hand. "Relax, baby." He looked down at her with his half-smile and Rachel couldn't stop the smile she gave in return.

"I just really want them to like me," she sighed and leaned her head against his arm.

"They will, I promise," Finn said as they reached the restaurant. Holding the door open for her, he guided her to the front with a reassuring hand on the small of her back.

* * *

><p>"Oh my gosh, you just have to join us for our parents' anniversary dinner this weekend!" Kurt exclaimed excitedly. To say that she and Kurt had gotten along would be a very huge understatement. Once the awkwardness of first introductions had settled, they learned that they were almost the exact same person in different bodies. They had talked the entire time about old movies and Broadway. Blaine was happy to add in things every now and then, while Finn kept quiet, letting them get to know each other.<p>

"Oh, I don't know," Rachel looked up at Finn now, a little nervous. "I wouldn't want to impose."

To be honest, she was slightly terrified at the idea of meeting Burt and Carole. She had heard so many wonderful things about them, but she and Finn _had_ only been together for about a month. Wasn't that a little too soon?

"Don't be silly," Kurt said with a wave of his hand. "You'd be more than welcome. I just know you'll get along with them perfectly." He gave a hard look to Finn, silently begging him to say something.

"Kurt, if she doesn't want to you can't force her," Finn said. He turned to look at her now with a gleam in his eyes that made her heart melt. "I'd really like you to come, though, Rach. That way I don't have to feel like a fifth wheel." He chuckled.

Rachel's eyes moved from Finn's hopeful eyes to Kurt's and then to Blaine. He gave her a little nod and a smile.

"Well, I suppose it would be nice," she smiled. Maybe meeting his parents wouldn't be _so_ bad…

"Great! Carole will be so thrilled that there is finally a _nice_ girl in Finn's life," Kurt said happily, putting extra emphasis on the word 'nice' and glaring at Finn.

Surprised, Rachel looked over at Finn to see him turning a little red and grabbing his neck nervously. They hadn't really discussed their past relationships too much. Sure, they told each other how many there had been and things like that, and Rachel had told him about Jesse. Finn had told her briefly about his last girlfriend, Anna, but hadn't been very anxious to give details.

"Anyway!" Blaine interjected, trying to change the subject. "Halloween is coming up soon. Do you guys have any ideas on what you're going to be? Kurt and I were thinking about having a party at our place."

* * *

><p>Hours after their dinner with Kurt and Blaine, Rachel and Finn were lying in her bed trying to catch their breath after a particularly intense make-out session. Their physical relationship was progressing slowly right now—Rachel told Finn she didn't want to rush into anything but the more they saw each other, the hotter their alone time became and Rachel had to force herself to break her lips away from Finn's. It was almost to the point where she wanted to jump on him the second she saw him and from the way his eyes practically devoured her when they saw each other, she guessed he felt the same.<p>

"Finn?" she raised herself onto her elbow to look at his face.

"Hmm?"

"What happened between you and Anna that you aren't telling me?" she asked.

Finn sighed. "Well, to be honest, she was just…a bitch," he began. "Like when she was with me, she was this really sweet girl at first and behind my back she was really mean and rude to everyone else. Kurt hated her with an intense passion. And she even tried to come onto Puck behind my back. That, and the fact that she looked down on me for being a fireman really just cemented the fact that she had no place in my life."

She moved closer to him and rested her head against his chest. "Well, I'll be forever grateful that you decided to become a fireman," she murmured and pressed a kiss against his chest through his shirt. "I think you're so brave for wanting to put your own life at risk to save others. And who knows what would have happened to me if you hadn't been my hero." She smiled up at him now and reached up to press her lips against his.

"You're amazing, you know that?" he whispered and smoothed his hand against her cheek.

"I've been told," she giggled.

"No, really," he said. "I've never met a girl like you, Rach. The past year, I've been just going through life like I was on autopilot. Then you came in and just brightened everything." He looked at her so earnestly.

"Finn," she whispered, at a loss for words. "You've brightened up my life, too, you know. I was about ready to swear off men because I was having horrible luck with finding anybody even halfway decent. But then you came in. And Finn, you really are the sweetest, most amazing guy I've ever met. This last month with you has made me happier than I've ever been. You make me feel on top of the world."

She smiled shyly at him and squealed when he rolled them over so he was hovering over her.

"You make me feel like I'm on top of the world too, Rachel Berry," he bumped his nose lightly against hers and kissed her. She could feel his grin against her lips and giggled as he moved to press kisses all across her face.

She could definitely get used to this feeling of happiness—was it too soon to call it love?


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry this took so long! Hope it was worth the wait. As always, reviews are appreciated. :)**

* * *

><p>"This is just terrible! I have absolutely nothing to wear!"<p>

Finn groaned as Rachel ran back to her room to change her dress for what felt like the millionth time. Tonight was his parent's anniversary dinner and she had been freaking out all day.

"Babe, all of those dresses looked amazing," he sighed. "Trust me, they're going to love you no matter what." He was currently sitting on the couch in a nice suit and tie, waiting for Rachel to finish getting ready.

"No, they're going to take one look at me and hate me," she whined, standing before him barefoot and in a dark blue dress.

"Come here," he motioned his hand until she came to stand between his legs. He took her hands in his. "Look at me, Rach," he whispered.

She slowly brought her eyes to meet his and let out a tiny smile when he pressed a kiss against her hand. "First of all," he began, "you look beautiful—you always look beautiful. And second of all, they're going to take one look at you, Rach, and see how happy you make me and they're going to love you." He let go of her hands to frame her face with both of his and leaned up to press a small kiss to lips.

"Smile for me?" he asked as they broke apart. She gave him a small smile and bit her lip.

"Thank you, Finn," she said. "I'm sorry I've been so crazy. I really am excited to meet them," her eyes had that excited sparkle in them that Finn loved. "Should I wear this dress?" She stepped back from him and did a tiny spin, her dress flowing prettily around her.

"I love it. Now go put shoes on so we can go, woman!" he joked. She giggled and ran back into her bedroom, just as he heard the sound of someone opening the front door.

"I am about to cut someone!" The door opened to reveal a _very_ angry-looking Santana. Oh no. He had just calmed down one woman; did he have it in him to calm down another one? This was Santana, after all, and she could probably kick his ass if she really tried. Plus, she seemed really, _really _angry.

"Err, are you ok?" Finn asked as she threw her stuff down on the coffee table.

"No, Jolly Green Giant, I am NOT ok," she said with a glare in his direction. "I am so fucking pissed off I need to lock myself in my apartment so that I don't kill anyone."

"What happened that made you so mad?" he tried, not even knowing if she'd actually open up to him. It was worth a shot.

"I'll tell you what happened," she said. "I've been working my ass of like crazy this semester to prove to one of my professors that I deserve an internship he offers to first-year students. I totally had it—he loved me. But then this one guy...this stupid little hobbit boy comes out of nowhere and steals my internship!" She was standing up now, pacing up and down while she went on with wild hand gesturing about this guy that was "the kiss ass of all kiss asses." He kind of lost track of what was happening, though, when she started speaking frantically in Spanish.

He was saved when Rachel walked out. "San! What's wrong?"

Santana looked up at her and just shook her head. "I can't say it all again, Munchkin," she sighed. "Ask your boyfriend because I am so pissed I think I will break something if I talk about it anymore."

Rachel's eyes widened and she looked at Finn. "Err, some guy beat her for an internship she really wanted," he said nervously.

"Oh San, I'm sorry," Rachel walked over to Santana and offered her a hug. Finn watched as Santana calmed down and put her head on Rachel's shoulder.

"I really wanted it," Santana sighed. "I wouldn't be this pissed if I hadn't worked so hard for it. Whatever, I'll get over it. I just need alone time for my brain to imagine that hobbit being killed in various ways," Santana shrugged.

Finn looked down at his watch now. They really needed to get going if they wanted to make it on time. "Rach? I'm really sorry and I hate to cut this short, but we really need to be going or we're going to be late," he stood up.

Rachel nodded and looked at Santana. "You gonna be ok, San? When I get back we can eat all the ice cream you want and cuddle on the couch with chick flicks," she said.

Finn got a sudden idea, "Oh wait," he said. "Why don't you call Brittany, Santana? Quinn told me she hasn't stopped talking about you." A small, selfish part of him thought that if Brittany would comfort Santana, then he could have Rachel all to himself tonight.

Santana's face brightened up a little bit at that. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, maybe you guys can get dinner and hang out or something," Finn said, offering to help Rachel put on her coat.

"Oh ok, um sure, I think I'll do that," Santana stuttered. "Thanks, Jolly Green." She gave him an actual smile and Rachel beamed from beside him.

"Alright, we need to go, San!" Rachel said happily. "I'll see you later." She took Finn's hand and soon enough they were out the door.

"That was really sweet, Finn," she said once they were walking down the stairs. "San's actually been talking about Brittany a lot. I think she really likes her."

Finn nodded. "Sure. I mean Brittany really seemed to like her too." He stopped walking once they reached the lobby and pulled her into his arms. "Plus, I kinda wanted to have you all to myself tonight," he confessed. "Puck went in this afternoon for his shift so he won't be home until tomorrow."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him with a smile. "Oh, really?" she said playfully. "And just what do you plan on doing if you have me all to yourself tonight?"

He winked and offered her a kiss. "I thought we'd let the rest of the night decide."

Rachel ran her hand down his tie and he could see a small blush on her cheeks. "Sounds good to me," she whispered. The past week, their physical relationship had been progressing further and further, but before something serious could ever happen, something interrupted them. It was either Santana coming home early because of cancelled class or once, Puck walked in on them and he hadn't stopped teasing them for it since. Finn was desperate to finally have some alone time with his girlfriend.

* * *

><p>Finn squeezed Rachel's hand as they walked to their table. From a distance, he could already see his mom and step-dad sitting at the table with Kurt and Blaine.<p>

"Finny!" his mom exclaimed as soon as they came into their view. She jumped up to give him a big hug.

"Hi, mom," he smiled and kissed her cheek. "Hey Burt," he added and gave his step-dad a pat on the shoulder. "Happy Anniversary!"

"Thanks, son," Burt said.

"Thank you, Sweetie," Carole said. "And who is this lovely young lady?" she asked as she noticed Rachel.

"Mom, Burt, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rachel Berry," he smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"It's so wonderful to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Hummel," Rachel said politely offering Carole her hand. "I've heard so much about you."

Carole waved off her hand and brought her in to give her a hug. "It's so nice to meet you, too," she said. "Kurt's told me a lot about you already. I just wish Finn had done the same," she glared playfully at Finn while Burt offered Rachel a hug as well.

Finn just chuckled and rolled his eyes while Rachel giggled. They shared their greetings with Kurt and Blaine before they took their seats at the table.

"God, I'm starving," Finn said patting his stomach. Rachel hit his arm.

The waiter came to pour their wine and take everyone's orders.

"You missed the great news!" Kurt said as the waiter left. He looked at Blaine and motioned for him to continue.

"Well," Blaine began, "I found out today that I was offered an internship with one of my professors. I couldn't bel—"

He stopped mid-sentence as Finn choked on his wine. Rachel turned to look at him and rubbed his back, staring at him with wide eyes the whole time. He knew they were both thinking the same thing—Blaine was the hobbit that Santana was envisioning being killed at that moment. It was just too big of a coincidence. Guess the world really was small, huh? Finn didn't even want to think about what Santana would do if she found out Blaine was Finn's stepbrother's boyfriend.

"Are you ok?" Burt asked him curiously, noticing the looks he and Rachel were sharing.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Finn coughed. "Just went down the wrong pipe, I guess. But uh, congratulations, man. That's awesome."

Blaine thanked him and Rachel offered him her own congrats while she reached down to squeeze Finn's hand tightly in hers.

"So tell me more about yourself, Rachel," Carole asked suddenly. "I want to know the girl that's making my son look so happy." She gave Finn an affectionate smile and he couldn't help the slight pinking of his cheeks.

Rachel excitedly told Carole and Burt all about how she had studied musical theatre at NYU and that she planned on being on Broadway one day. Finn loved that Rachel always talked about Broadway like it was an inevitability. He admired the fact that her dreams were so important to her and that she had so much determination to make them happen.

"Oh, tell them how you and Finn met!" Kurt exclaimed excitedly. "It's like something out of a fairytale, really, it's so sugary sweet."

Finn rolled his eyes at his stepbrother but squeezed Rachel's hand under the table, playing affectionately with her fingers. Rachel looked up at him with a sparkle in her eyes before she began.

She and Kurt volleyed back and forth with the story, Finn content to hear it from her all over again. His mom gasped and let out 'awws' at all the correct times while Burt just gave him a look that could only be described as pride in his stepson.

"Finn, why didn't you tell me you rescued someone?" Carole asked Finn with wide eyes.

He shrugged. "I don't know," he said honestly. "It all happened so fast, I guess."

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart," Carole said fondly. "And I'm especially proud you met such a wonderful girl from it all."

Rachel blushed and thanked Carole shyly. Finn smiled and pressed a light kiss to her cheek.

"See?" Kurt said. "They're so adorable it's giving me a sugar rush."

* * *

><p>Rachel let out a happy sigh as they finally made their way into Finn's apartment hours later. Dinner had gone extremely well—Finn could tell his mother absolutely adored Rachel already and it made him happy to know the two most important women in his life got along so well.<p>

"See," he teased, "I told you there was nothing to worry about." He slipped his jacket off and loosened his tie before taking sinking down on the couch.

"I know," Rachel nodded. She slipped her shoes off and curled up in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I was nervous for nothing. They were the most welcoming, sweetest people ever."

Finn nodded and curled his arms around her. "And babe, I'm telling you right now that you have no idea what you got yourself into agreeing to go shopping with Kurt tomorrow."

Rachel looked at him surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Shopping with Kurt is like no other experience you will ever have," Finn laughed. "That's all I'm going to say. I'll just let you be surprised." He winked at her and she gave him a pout. He pecked her lips once, then again, and then deepened the kiss the third time.

"Finn," Rachel sighed into his mouth. She turned slightly so she was straddling his lap and ran her hands across his chest.

Finn moved his lips against hers, only breaking apart to take in air. Her lips were so addicting and he felt like he could spend hours kissing them. She always tasted like the strawberry chapstick she used and it drove him absolutely crazy. She let out a moan as he took her bottom lip between his and sucked.

His hands moved up and down against her sides, stopping just under her breasts. She let out a whimper and moved against him.

"Finn," she whispered, "touch me."

God. That sentence alone nearly did him in. He moved his right hand to cup her breast over the material of her dress. He squeezed her gently, pressing kisses against the exposed skin along the neckline of her dress. She whined and got off of his lap suddenly.

"Rach? What…" he stopped as he realized she stood in front of him now, slowly lowering the zipper on the side of her dress. He swallowed thickly as she pulled it off to pool at her feet.

She was perfect. He couldn't even think of enough words at the moment as he stared at her in only her light blue panties. Her bare breasts moved up and down with her rapid breaths while her dark brown hair lay messy and tousled from his fingers. She bit her lip nervously and stared back at him.

"Rachel," he whispered, in awe. He sat up and motioned for her to come back to his lap. She straddled his legs once again and he put his hand on her cheek. "You are so fucking beautiful. I've never seen anything like you, baby." He ran his hand along her face, all the way down to her neck and chest, then down to the sensitive skin on her tummy. She giggled as his fingertips tickled her and it was the best sound in the world. Her giggle turned into a gasp as he brought his hand up to take her breast in his hand. He let out a moan of his own at how perfectly she fit into his palm.

Rolling her nipple between his fingers, he reached up to start a line of kisses all the way from her neck to her collarbone, then down into the valley between her breasts. Her skin was so soft and he didn't think he'd ever get enough. Her head fell back as he pressed kisses all across the mound of breast, but never quite reaching her nipple.

They were both brought out of their lustful trance abruptly when her phone started ringing.

"Ignore it," he groaned and finally sucked her right nipple into his warm mouth.

"I…_oh. Ok_," she gasped. He looked up at her with a smirk and flicked her nipple with his tongue before sucking it harder. He could feel himself hardening as he lost himself in the feel of her.

He buried his face in her chest and let out a frustrated groan as her phone immediately began ringing again.

"I'm sorry, Finn," she said. "I really should get it. What if something happened to San?"

She got off his lap and Finn admired the sight of her mostly naked form reaching over to her purse to find her phone.

"Hello?" she stood in front of him and realized her state of undress. She blushed slightly and stuck out her tongue at him before reaching over to tug his discarded jacket over her shoulders.

"What? Why?" she talked into the phone, her voice taking on a slightly panicked tone that made Finn sit up. "San, just tell me what happened. Is everything ok? I…Santana?"

She huffed and looked at her phone with a frown. "She hung up on me."

"What did she say?" Finn asked.

"She just said I needed to get home right this second," Rachel replied. "She said something huge just happened and I needed to get my butt back over there. Oh my gosh, I hope everything is ok."

She had pulled her dress back on as she spoke and was already slipping on her shoes.

Finn grumbled unhappily at _another_ failed attempt at sex with Rachel and took deep breaths to force his body to calm down. He began fixing his tie and stood up to slip his jacket back on, smirking slightly as he realized it smelled like her from the mere two minutes she had worn it.

"Come on," he sighed. "I'm sure everything is ok." He held his hand out to her and they made their way out of his apartment.

* * *

><p>The second Rachel and Finn walked through the door of her apartment, they were met with screams.<p>

"Oh my gosh, you're finally here!" a girl Finn had never met before, but had seen pictures of, stood up excitedly from her spot on the couch and ran over to them, flashing her left hand in Rachel's face. "Mike proposed! I'm getting married!"

Hearing the name Mike, Finn guessed this was Rachel's other best friend, Tina. He watched amused as his girlfriend began squealing and jumping up and down with her two best friends.

"Oh my gosh!" Rachel exclaimed. "This is amazing! And that ring is just to die for."

Finn cleared his throat slightly and Tina, Santana, and Rachel were reminded of his presence.

"Oh, right!" Rachel grabbed Finn's hand and kissed his cheek. "Tina, this is Finn."

"Finally, I get to meet the amazing, wonderful, hunky fireman, Finn," Tina joked, holding out her hand.

Finn laughed, a sheepish smile appearing on his face as he shook her hand politely. "It's very nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you from Rachel. And congratulations on your engagement."

"The way he proposed was just so romantic, too," Tina sighed.

Although Finn wanted nothing more than to drag Rachel back to his apartment and worship her smokin' body all night, he knew she needed to be here to celebrate with her best friends.

"I should go, Rach," he said to her quietly, playing with her fingers lightly with his own.

"What? Why?" she frowned up at him.

"Well one of your best friends just got engaged and I'm sure you guys want girl time to talk about it and stuff," he shrugged. "It's fine, babe, I promise."

He bent down to press a kiss against her forehead. "I know you're going shopping with Kurt tomorrow, but I'll call you and maybe we can have breakfast or something."

"Yeah, ok, you're right," she sighed. "But I wanted us to be able to have the whole night together," she looking up at him with a small frown.

"I know," he playfully poked her nose, "but we have plenty of time for that." He winked now and said a quick goodbye to Tina and Santana, but they merely waved as they were talking excitedly on the couch.

Chuckling, Finn wrapped his arms around Rachel and leaned down to kiss her goodnight. "Goodnight, baby. Tonight was perfect either way. I know my parents already adore you."

She smiled up at him brightly and slipped her arms around his neck. "I really did have a great time."

Finn gave her one more kiss and walked towards her door. With one last smile at her, he closed the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"Hey Hud, you have a visitor!" Finn looked up to see Sam in the doorway of the weight room in the firehouse. It had been a little over a week since the night of his parents' anniversary dinner and he had only been able to see Rachel in small visits. He had gone over to visit her at the little music store she was working at, McKinley's, a few times and they texted or talked on the phone nearly everyday, but he still found himself missing her.<p>

He put away the weights he had been lifting and grabbed his towel to clean off some of the sweat from his workout. Grabbing his water bottle, he took big gulps as he walked out to the lounge to see Rachel standing there with a picnic basket. She smiled brightly as soon as she saw him and set the basket down to give him a big hug.

"Finn!" she squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Hi, baby," he laughed, picking her up slightly and pressing a kiss against her cheek. "Sorry I'm so sweaty, I was in the weight room."

"That's ok, I missed you," she pressed her lips against his before he set her back down on her feet.

"I missed you too," he said sincerely. "What brings you by the station?"

"Well I thought we could have lunch together!" she said happily, pointing to the picnic basket on the table to her right. "I have the rest of the afternoon off, so I thought I'd pack us a picnic and we could eat together."

He smiled at how thoughtful she was and his stomach growled at the thought of food. "That sounds awesome. I'm starving."

Giggling, she started taking out containers of food from the basket and setting them on the table. "I found a recipe for an eggplant lasagna that I wanted to try and I have to say, I think it came out really good."

Finn watched as she pulled out a container with the lasagna that actually looked and smelled really awesome, two salads, and plates and utensils. She really was adorable and so thoughtful to do something like this.

"And I made you something special for dessert," she said, serving food onto their plates.

"Oh really?" he smirked at her and raised his eyebrows playfully.

"Not like that, you dirty boy," she laughed, throwing a napkin at him.

They chatted happily as they ate and Finn couldn't help but think that he could get used to visits from Rachel like this.

"This was so good, Rach," he sighed, leaning back in his seat to pat his stomach happily. "Who knew lasagna would still be good without meat in it?" he added thoughtfully.

"I'm so glad you liked it," she said happily. "I hope you saved room for desert."

"Babe, I always have room for more food," he joked sitting up eagerly.

She laughed and took out another dish from the basket. Opening the lid, he was immediately assaulted with the most amazing scent of apples and cinnamon. "I hope you like apple pie!" She smiled brightly at him and began cutting a piece to dish out onto his plate.

"I love apple pie," he said, eyeing the piece hungrily. He had the best girlfriend ever.

"What the fuck is that amazing smell?" They both turned as they saw Puck walk into the room.

"Hello to you too, Noah," Rachel laughed. "I surprised Finn with lunch. There's a lot leftover. Would you like some?"

"Fuck yes, woman," Puck took a seat immediately and Rachel began serving him a plate of the leftover lasagna. She watched to see his reaction anxiously. "Dude." He looked at Finn now with a serious look after he swallowed his first bite. "Your girlfriend is amazing."

Finn laughed and Rachel grinned. "Hell yeah, she is," Finn winked at Rachel. "Wait until you try this pie."

"Seriously, Berry," Puck said through a mouthful of food. "You can come here any time you want if you're gonna be bringing food like this."

Rachel laughed and smiled at Finn happily as she ate her own helping of the pie.

"What's all this?" They looked up again to see Sam and their captain, Paul walking through the door.

"Fns gfiend bft fd," Puck tried talking around the bite of lasagna in his mouth, but all that came out were indecipherable mumbles.

"Noah, don't talk with your mouth full!" Rachel scolded.

Finn laughed as Puck just shrugged and continued eating. "This is my girlfriend, Rachel. She brought me lunch today," he explained. "Rach, this is my captain, Paul, and you met Sam earlier."

"It's so nice to meet you, sir," Rachel said politely to Paul, standing up to shake his hand. She smiled politely at Sam and said hello again.

"Unless Noah has completely devoured it, there might still be some food left that you're more than welcome to," she told them.

Finn sat back and watched happily as Rachel talked with the guys and served them plates of food. It was insane how easily she just seemed to fit in his life, as if she had always been there. She was everything he never realized he had been missing and it made him so happy to see her getting along with the guys he worked so closely with.

* * *

><p>"You're too good to me, you know that," Finn wrapped his arms around Rachel's waist as they stood outside the firehouse sometime later. After the guys had eaten all the food Rachel had brought, they had all talked for a while until she announced she needed to be heading home.<p>

"I just love spending time with my favorite firefighter," she winked up at him playfully, her arms wrapping around his middle as she rested her chin on his chest to look up at him. "When does your shift end?" she murmured.

"My shift is over at 11 tonight," he pressed a kiss to her forehead and swayed them gently from side to side.

"Mmm. You should come to my apartment then when you're out," she smiled. "I miss cuddling with you."

He laughed and nodded. "You won't be asleep?"

"Finn, I'm not an old lady," she laughed. "Eleven is not that late."

"Ok," he chuckled. "I will. I actually miss cuddling with you, too."

They stayed wrapped in their hug for a few more minutes before they broke away. They kissed each other goodbye sweetly with the promise of seeing each other later and Finn hailed a cab for her.

* * *

><p>It was nearly two in the morning by the time Finn finally found himself at Rachel's front door. His company had been called out help at a terrible house fire at the last minute and they had rushed to get there immediately. His whole body ached and he let out a yawn as he knocked on the door. He knew it was late and all he really wanted to do was sleep, but he had promised he would show up and he wouldn't mind curling up with her for the night.<p>

He smiled as he took in the sight of her when she opened the door. Her hair was in two braids and she rubbed her eyes sleepily in her little pajama short set that was covered in multi-colored elephants.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Finn, it's so late, what happened?" she asked softly, taking his hand to lead him into her apartment. It was dark and he waited patiently as she locked up the door again.

"I'm so sorry," he said quietly. "We got called out to a put out a fire. I took a shower at the station and came straight here because I promised you I'd show up."

"It's ok, Finn. I understand," she reached up to kiss him and led him down the hall to her bedroom. "Thank you for still coming by."

"Of course," he smiled as they stood in the middle of her room.

"You must be so tired," she whispered. "Come on, let's go to bed."

He nodded and stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt, sighing happily as they slipped beneath the blankets.

"Mm," he sighed contentedly as she curled up against his chest. He loved moments like this when they just held each other. "I missed this," he whispered, running his fingers through her hair, the other hand holding hers against his chest.

"Me too," she yawned. She pressed a kiss to his knuckles. "I love snuggling with you."

"I love _you_," his eyes opened wide as he realized what he said. He hadn't meant to say that out loud yet—he had been thinking about his feelings for her a lot lately and he knew he had fallen completely in love with her, but he figured he would wait at least a few more weeks to say it out loud. He felt her entire body stiffen and she sat up quickly.

"What did you say?" she whispered.

"I…uh…" he didn't want to take it back now that it was already out. It's not exactly like it was a lie…but what if he scared her off? What the heck, he was gonna go for it. "I love you, Rachel. You don't have to say it back or anything. I'm sorry, it just came out. I've known for a while that I was falling completely head over heels for you and I don't know, it just felt right, being here with you. And gosh, I'm so sorry. I—"

"I love you too," she interrupted his word vomit with her declaration and Finn could do nothing but squint up at her in the darkness.

"Wait, you do?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, silly," she giggled. "I love you, Finn Hudson. It feels so good to say it!"

His grin lit up his whole face and although it was dark, he could make out the huge grin she wore as well. He could feel the warmth in his chest as he laughed out loud and pressed kisses anywhere he could reach.

"I love you so much, Rachel Berry," he whispered between kisses. She pressed her lips against his and he could feel her smile against him. "You make me so happy."

"You make me happy too," she said, resuming her position on his chest. "But sleep now, talk later."

He chuckled and held her tighter. "Night, baby. I love you." He didn't think he'd ever get tired of saying it.

"Love you too," she whispered.

Finn let his body relax again, completely happy to know he had the woman he loved, and who loved him back, wrapped securely in his arms. Life really couldn't get any better.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So I am so very, very sorry that this took so incredibly long to post! Hopefully the chapters will come more quickly now that I know where I want to take this story, but the new semester just started so I can't make any promises. Thank you so much to everyone that's been reviewing, it really mean so much. :) Also, this is the first time I've ever attempted to write smut...so hopefully it isn't horrible!**

* * *

><p>"Rachel? Are you listening to me?"<p>

Rachel snapped her head up as Kurt began waving a hand in her face. They were currently out to lunch before they would be off shopping again. She had been hesitant to agree to come with him since the last time they went shopping he had basically insulted—lovingly, he said—everything she picked out. But he and Blaine were having a party for Halloween this year and insisted that she accompany him to look at costumes and party decorations.

"Sorry, Kurt." She put her phone away quickly, having been sharing texts back and forth with Finn. Ever since they said those three magic words a few days earlier, they had turned into one of _those_ couples. The lovey-dovey, constantly showing affection, couples that she usually despised. She couldn't help it though—it felt so incredible to actually be one of those people completely consumed by love.

"Can't my brother leave you alone for two minutes?" Kurt winked. "Anyway, I was saying that you are more than welcome to invite some of your friends to the party on Saturday. The more the merrier!"

"Sure, that sounds great! Oh wait, um…" Rachel suddenly remembered one very crucial detail she had neglected the past few weeks—Santana wanted Blaine dead. Well not literally, but with Santana you could never be too sure.

"Kurt, I think there's something you should know about my best friend," Rachel took a nervous sip from her water. "She kind of wants your boyfriend to die a slow and painful death."

Kurt nearly choked on his food and started coughing violently. "I'm sorry...what?"

"Well Santana has classes with Blaine and that internship that he got? Yeah, Santana had been hoping it would be hers. She was really, really angry when she found out she didn't get it." Rachel tried to explain quickly, biting her lip and eying Kurt nervously.

"I see," Kurt nodded his head and then got a thoughtful look on his face. "Well as serious as you and my brother are getting, they'll have to interact eventually."

"You mean you still want her to go to the party?" Rachel asked surprised.

"I'll just make sure Blaine's costume involves a mask and there will be a lot of people there…what are the chances they'll actually even meet?" Kurt shrugged as if the issue was solved.

"Kurt, that sounds like an awful idea," Rachel said. "There's no way they won't see each other, Blaine is the one hosting the party with you!"

Kurt merely waved his hand. "We'll figure it out. I really want you to be there." He smiled at her and patted her hand affectionately. Rachel beamed at him in return.

"So what do you have in mind for a costume?" Kurt asked excitedly. They continued their lunch going back and forth with ideas.

* * *

><p>Rachel admired her reflection in the mirror of the dressing room she currently occupied. Kurt had insisted she try this costume on. "It'll be perfect. Although I don't want to think about it, Finn won't know what to do with himself when he sees you," he had said. "Plus, it's a little ironic, don't you think?"<p>

She tilted her head as she tried to adjust the striped black dress (if you could even call it that!) she wore. She supposed it would be pretty ironic to dress up as a sexy firefighter for Halloween. She giggled as she imagined Finn's face when he saw her in the short dress. It was black with a reflective stripe on the bottom and a small American flag embroidered at the bottom. The straps were thick and red to look like suspenders. She wore a tiny white tank top underneath that still didn't do much to cover her up. She picked up the red plastic firefighter helmet the costume came with and put it on her head before opening the door to show Kurt.

"You don't think it's too… slutty?" She asked as she walked out.

Kurt laughed and looked her up and down playfully. "Oh no. You are getting that—no question. Do you own a pair of tall black boots?"

"Err no," Rachel shook her head.

"Well then we need to find you a pair to go with that costume," he nodded to himself. "What do you think about my costume?" He did a spin and Rachel finally realized what he was wearing.

She laughed. "Only you could pull that off, Kurt." He was dressed as the Mad Hatter—he had on green plaid pants, a satin green vest and a long orange jacket on top. He adjusted the bright blue bowtie around his neck before reaching down to grab the giant green top hat.

"Yes, I do look fabulous, don't I?" He smirked and did a small bow. "Do you think I could convince Blaine to be the Cheshire cat?" He held up a pink and purple-stripped jumpsuit and they both couldn't hold in their laughter at the image of Blaine wearing it.

* * *

><p>"But why won't you tell me what you're going to be?" Finn pouted up at her from his spot on the couch. "I told you what I was going as."<p>

"Finn, wearing a Batman shirt does not count as a costume," Rachel laughed, coming over to sit in his lap. "Just be patient. You'll see in a couple of days." She kissed him lightly and ruffled his hair.

"I wanna know now," he stuck out his bottom lip and looked at her with puppy-dog eyes.

"It'll be well worth the wait, I promise," she winked at him playfully and turned slightly so that she could straddle his lap. Grabbing his face in her hands, she pressed her lips against his in the hopes he would drop the subject. He was about to inch her dress up when they heard the door open. She groaned and buried her face in his neck.

"Will you please dismount Jolly Green, Munchkin? I want you to come see my costume for this weekend," Santana's voice rang through the living room and her heels could be heard as she walked down the hallway to her room.

"Why can I never just have you all to myself?" Finn reluctantly let her go from his lap but kept a hold on her hands as she stood in front of him.

Rachel kissed his nose and gave him a small smile. "This weekend I promise I will be yours completely. We'll make Noah stay at Quinn's and we'll have your apartment to ourselves." She squeezed his hands and broke away to go to Santana's room, being sure to sway her hips just to tease him. She giggled as she heard his groan. Truth was, she was dying for them to finally be able to have alone time as much as he was.

"Alright, Sanny, what is your costume?" she walked into her best friend's room to find Santana standing in a tiny red dress.

"Devil in a red dress," Santana grabbed the headband still on the bed with the small devil horns on top and put it on. "What do you think? Is it slutty?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows as her best friend did a small twirl in the tiny corset-like dress. She wore black fishnet stockings and black stilettos to complete the look. "Er, yeah, San, it's pretty slutty."

"Perfect."

"Very you," Rachel laughed and took a seat on the bed. "What's Brittany going as?" She noticed the way Santana's face lit up and it made her so happy to finally to see that her best friend had found someone she genuinely liked.

"Would you believe me if I told you she was going as a flamingo?" Santana laughed.

"Seriously?"

"Promise! She's adorable. And she's refusing to show me until the party so we'll see what it looks like. Speaking of which, you told Frankenteen about your sexy costume yet?"

Rachel shook her head. "Nope. He's just gonna have to wait until Saturday!" She laughed and got up to return to her boyfriend. She found him still on the couch, watching some sports channel.

"Hey Rach?" Finn asked as she took a seat next to him. "What are we gonna do about the whole Santana vs. Blaine situation?"

Rachel remembered her conversation with Kurt. "I told Kurt about it and he thinks the problem is solved if we just put a mask on Blaine and keep him away from Santana at all costs," she explained. "But I really don't think it's going to work. I keep avoiding saying his name if I talk about them. It's just always 'Kurt and his boyfriend.'"

Finn tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe she'll be too wrapped up in Brittany to notice. We can tell Brittany to like distract her every time Blaine is near or something!"

"Hmm, I guess. But they're going to have to meet each other eventually," Rachel moved closer so that she could rest her head against his chest.

"Mm," Finn pressed a kiss to her hair and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I guess we'll just have to play this by ear."

"I love you," Rachel grinned up at him, happy she could finally say it whenever she wanted. "My sexy fireman."

"Love you too," he replied. She felt his smile against her lips as he leaned down to kiss her.

* * *

><p>Rachel slipped her arm through Santana's as they made their way up the steps to Kurt and Blaine's on the night of Halloween. She was so nervous for tonight and hoped nothing would go wrong. She had already sent a text to Kurt that they were on their way so that he could make sure it wasn't Blaine that opened the door.<p>

"Hello, hello! Welcome to our humble home," Kurt mock-bowed and tipped his hat as they walked into the already full apartment. "You must be Santana." He stuck his hand out to shake Santana's, who merely eyed him up and down before reluctantly shaking it. "That is a fierce costume. I'm taking this to mean that your fashion sense is actually acceptable, unlike Rachel's."

"Hey!" Rachel pouted.

Santana merely grinned and poked Kurt in the nose. "I like you already. So glad there is finally someone else to tell Munchkin about her atrocious taste in clothes."

"I am standing right here, you know!" Rachel put her hands on her hips and glared at both of them. "And I happen to think what I'm wearing right now isn't atrocious, thank you very much."

"Holy shit, you can say that again," they all turned in the direction of the voice, seeing Finn standing with his mouth gapping open, wearing black jeans and a Batman t-shirt.

"Finn!" Rachel raced over to him and stood on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. She giggled as his expression was still glazed over, staring at her revealing costume. She had gone with Kurt's advice and splurged on a pair of beautiful black boots with a tiny stiletto heel that were probably way more than she could afford, but definitely worth it as she saw Finn gulp at the sight of them. Santana had forced her into a chair to do her hair and makeup earlier and now her hair lay against her shoulders in big, sexy waves, while her makeup was probably a little darker and intense than she was used to. "You like?" she spun in a circle so that he could get the full view of her revealing costume and bit her lip as she turned to face him once more, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her mouth.

"You can thank me for that costume, big brother!" Kurt called as he took Santana's hand to lead her away.

"I…um…I like it a lot," he stuttered. "You look fucking hot, baby." He pulled her closer and kissed her so intensely she swore she saw stars behind her eyelids, practically forgetting her name for a few seconds as they pulled away.

Smirking at the expression on her face, he reached his hand up to fix the plastic hat on her head and kissed her cheek. "What do you think of my costume?"

"Finn," she laughed, "you're just wearing the t-shirt. That hardly counts as saying you dressed up as Batman for Halloween."

"Hey! I wore the cape!" He turned around and she noticed a black cape was attached to the shirt. "And the mask is in my pocket. I was wearing it, but it got really itchy." He took the black mask from his pocket to show her.

She merely hummed, tracing the batman logo along his chest with her fingers. "You're still the sexiest Batman I've ever seen." She bit her lip and looked up at him with a suggestive look in her eyes.

He groaned and pressed her closer, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "We'll have my apartment all to ourselves tonight." He pressed kisses along her jaw line before moving his mouth to nibble on her ear. "Maybe I'll let you take a ride…on the Batmobile."

Rachel burst out laughing and slapped his chest. "Finn! Oh my gosh, that was the worst line I have ever heard!" She was nearly doubled over, tears threatening to fall down her face as she laughed.

"I know, I know! I just really wanted to see your face when I said it!" Finn laughed loudly and took her hand, giving her a spin before walking them toward the drinks table.

* * *

><p>Rachel sighed in relief as she plopped herself down in Finn's lap some time and several drinks later.<p>

"Hey, where have you been?" Finn wrapped his arm around her and squeezed her side.

"Sorry, I was talking to San. Her and Brittany left," Rachel said. "Something about a cat in a unicorn costume. I'm a little relieved to be honest; she was so distracted with Britt the whole night. I thought for sure she and Blaine would run into each other!" She grinned at him and leaned down to kiss him, only to be interrupted by Puck, who after much pushing from Quinn was dressed as a pirate. He had been flashing people his fake sword all night and asking them if they wanted a cracker. Quinn was dressed as a sexy pirate as well, but rolled her eyes every time he called her "me lady."

"Hey, hey, no making out on the couch. We're gonna play quarters, come on," He grinned and held up a quarter in one hand while the other pulled Quinn along with him to the kitchen table.

The other people gathered around the table included Mike (who had gotten along really well with Finn and Puck apparently) and Tina who were both dressed as mimes, Artie dressed as a pimp, a girl named Mercedes dressed as a beauty queen, Sam dressed as a hobo, and of course Blaine and Kurt. Kurt had kept his promise of getting Blaine a costume with a mask—he was dressed as Zoro and he and Puck had been "sword fighting" all night.

"Alright does everyone know how to play?" Puck put a glass in the center of the table and poured beer into another that he set to the side. "Everyone takes turns trying to bounce the quarter on the table and into the glass. You make it, you pick someone to drink the beer and go again. Make it three times in a row and you get to make up a rule. Got it? Let's play!"

He bounced the coin against the table and bounced against the rim of the center glass. Shrugging, he passed the coin to Finn on his right.

They kept going around like that and Kurt kept getting angry because he missed every time and everyone seemed intent on passing the drink to him when they won.

"This is not fair," he scrunched his nose as he was forced to drink another glass of beer when Sam bounced the quarter in the glass.

Rachel leaned her head against Finn's arm as they watched Mike take his turn. She moved her hand to the inside of his leg, not really interested in the game anymore. What she really was interested in was going back to his apartment.

She felt his sharp intake of breath as her fingers started making slow circles against his inner thigh through his jeans. He looked down at her with such a lustful gleam in his eyes that she had to bite her lip hard to hold in a tiny whimper.

"Time to go?" he whispered, slipping his hand to her leg and causing goose bumps to pop up on her skin as his fingertips just barely whispered against her skin.

She nodded her head vigorously and immediately stood up, banging her knee against the table in the process. Hissing in pain, she sat back down and felt tears sting behind her eyelids as the pain shot through her.

"Oh my God, are you ok?" Finn leaned down towards her and rubbed his hand along her knee while Blaine ran to get her some ice.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," she winced as she lightly touched red spot on her knee and thanked Blaine as he gave her an ice pack.

"Why did you get up so quickly?" Tina asked as Finn went to go get their coats.

"Um…I don't know, we were going to go ahead an take off and I guess I underestimated how close the table was?" she bowed her head as she felt her cheeks redden.

Puck hit his hand against the table and started laughing loudly while everyone turned to look at him in surprise. "Bullshit, Berry! You and Finn were going to rush out of here to go take advantage of having the apartment."

Rachel huffed and shot him a glare as some of the others stifled giggles.

Finn came back with his own jacket already on and held out Rachel's coat and purse. "Here, let me help you," he helped her stand up and she winced slightly at the pain in her knee. They bid everyone goodnight and turned to leave, but not before Puck had a chance to get in his jab about the empty apartment.

"This is a serious injury, Noah! We'll be lucky if I even make it home ok!" She rolled her eyes and gripped Finn's arm tightly as Kurt stood up to walk them to the door.

"Be careful, ok?" he kissed her cheek, patted Finn's arm and let them out. "Thanks for coming. Rach, we'll do lunch again this week. I'll call you." The door closed behind them and Rachel sighed as she leaned against the wall.

"Do you need me to carry you? Does it hurt that bad?" Finn looked down at her with concern, pushing her hair behind her ear. His eyes widened as she looked up at him suddenly with a bright smile.

"It is definitely not that bad, I just really wanted to make Noah feel horrible," she bit her lip and swung his hand playfully. "But if the offer still stands, I wouldn't mind my hot boyfriend carrying me down the sta—" she squealed as he immediately swung her up in his arms, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. He started to walk towards the stairs. "Wait, my bag!" He turned back and bent his knees so that she could reach her bag from the floor and then took off again in the direction of the stairs.

After a make out way too intense for the cab ride home, Rachel moaned as Finn pressed her up against the door to his very empty apartment.

He fumbled for his keys, clumsily unlocking the door, and they stumbled inside. She threw her bag in the direction of the table and they both immediately began shedding each other's coats. Finn let out a growl that sent shivers over her entire body and a sharp pang to her center as he picked her up to wrap her legs around his waist.

She began pressing kisses and light bites against his neck as he walked towards his bedroom. Not bothering to let go of her, he sat on the edge of his bed with her straddling his lap. She wasted no time in pulling his shirt up and off of him, slowly grinding her lower body against his. Her hands roamed all across the muscular planes of his chest and she pressed kisses and tiny nibbles against his shoulder.

"Fuck, Rach," he squeezed her thighs and fingered the zipper of her tall black boots before bringing his hands up to roam her sides. She could feel his fingers moving against the fabric of her costume, probably trying to find a zipper.

She broke away from his lips and pushed up from his shoulders, trying to stand up. His hands tried to keep her close to him until she laughed and stood up between his legs. "What's wrong?"

She took in his messed up hair and his swollen lips and bit her bottom lip. She pushed her curls over one shoulder and angled her body away from him. "Help me with the zipper?" She looked at him from over her shoulder and shook her ass slightly to tease him.

He raised his eyebrow and licked his lips as he looked into her dark eyes. He reached his hands up to grip her ass before sliding them slowly up her back, making her shiver. His fingers found the zipper and he pulled it down slowly. She helped him push the dress down completely and she kicked it away. She turned to face him, still dressed in her white tank top, tiny black panties, and black boots.

Still deciding to tease him, she lifted one leg and placed her foot on the inside of his thigh. "Help me?"

The lustful look in his eyes when he looked up at her was one that nearly brought her to her knees. Her chest rose and fell rapidly in anticipation as he ran his fingers up her leg to the zipper on the tip of her boot. She bit her lip to hold in a moan as his fingers lightly teased the reddened skin of her knee from where she bumped it earlier. He leaned forward to press the lightest of kisses against her skin and she leaned her head back and let out a tiny moan.

He looked up at her again with a cheeky smile before his fingers gripped the zipper, sliding it down and pressing kisses against the new skin that became exposed. He repeated the process with the other boot and by the time they were off Rachel was ready to tear the rest of his clothes off completely. She straddled him once again and pushed until he was lying on his back. She forcefully pressed her lips back against his, her tongue immediately slipping into his mouth as his hands roamed the back of her thighs and ass. She sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and shivered as his fingers teased her tummy. He pushed her tank up and off of her before flipping them over so that he could hover above her body. She moaned as he moved his mouth all across her neck and chest, sucking on the spot on her neck that he knew drove her insane.

"Finn, please baby. Hurry," her fingers ran through his hair and down the muscles of his back. He wasted no time in unhooking her bra, his lips barely leaving her for a second to fling it across the room. His mouth roamed the newly exposed skin and she whined as he took her nipple into his mouth, flicking his tongue against her hard peak. She felt him smile against her as he pressed kisses between her breasts, up her collarbone, and back to her mouth.

It was his turn to moan her name as she let her hand wander across his chest and down to the waistband of his jeans. Her hands made quick work of his belt and zipper. He hissed as she gripped his hard length in her hand through his boxers. Using his moment of weakness to her advantage, Rachel pushed his shoulder so that she could flip them over. She flipped her body around to tease him again as she took his shoes and socks off, moaning as his hand came up again to squeeze her ass. He helped her kick off his pants and boxers before he lay naked before her.

Rachel gripped his cock in her hand, squeezing lightly as moisture gathered at the tip. His hips lifted slightly and she leaned down to swipe her tongue against the head of his cock, humming at the taste of him while he let out a groan. She stroked him up and down a few times before pressing kisses all along his body.

"You. Are. So. Sexy," she punctuated each word with a kiss to his stomach, chest and neck, and finally his lips. She threw her leg over him so that their every inch of them touched, the only thing keeping him from her entrance being her tiny panties. He moaned as she sat up against him, running her fingers through her hair and down her neck as the lace of her panties created wonderful friction between them.

"Baby, if you don't stop all of this will be over way too soon," Finn's hands gripped her hips to stop her and he moved to trap her beneath him again. He balanced his weight on his forearm above her and moved the other arm so that his hand could cup her completely through her panties. "Fuck," he whispered as he felt how wet she was through the lace. His fingers teased her entrance and she turned her head into the pillow to let out tiny whimpers. Her hips started moving against his hand as he moved his fingers under the waistband of her panties to rub against her wet skin. He pressed kisses against her neck as he rubbed slow circles against her clit. "Feel good?" he whispered in her ear before he sucked her earlobe in his mouth and pressed one long finger into her.

"Oh, yes, yes," she moaned and she tangled her hand into the hair on the back of his neck, her hips moving against his hand.

It wasn't long before he was thrusting two fingers into her at a faster pace while his thumb rubbed circles against her clit. She moaned into his mouth as he brought her to a mind-shattering climax, her back arching and her toes curling.

"Finn, ohhh, I…oh," her chest rose and fell rapidly as his fingers slowed and gently eased her down from her high. He got on his knees between her legs to quickly rid of her of her soaked panties. He leaned back down against her and she moaned as she felt his hardness against her sensitive skin.

"Condom," she whispered against his lips, desperate to have him inside her already. He reached his hand to his bedside table, opening the drawer and digging until he produced a condom. Quickly tearing the package open, he knelt between her spread legs again and placed it down his length. He gripped himself in his hand and teased her sensitive clit with the head of his cock, groaning at the feel of her. "Finn," she whined and brought her hand down to help guide him to her entrance.

They both let out moans of pleasure as his length finally slipped inside her, inch by inch.

"Rach, oh God, you feel so good," his hands gripped her hips tightly as she adjusted to him filling her completely. Her fingers gripped the blankets around her as she lifted her hips to rock against him.

"Mmm, Finn," she pulled him down to her to press her lips against his. One leg came up to wrap around his waist as he began to move in and out of her. He groaned and buried his face in her neck, while she pressed kisses against the muscles of his shoulder. Sweat was gathering against them as they moved against one another, completely overwhelmed in finally being together. Her nails scratched his skin as he hit a spot deep inside her that made her moan loudly. He felt so hard against her as his thrusts became faster and faster.

"I'm getting close," he whispered, leaning up slightly against one arm and kissing her roughly, his lips nearly bruising hers. He reached down to squeeze her breast, pinching her nipple between his fingers.

"Harder," she whispered against him. "Finn, oh God, I'm almost there."

His thrusts became harder and more erratic while her hips began moving against him at a rapid pace. She whipped her head side to side against the pillow, her moans becoming louder as she felt every nerve ending on her body engulf in flames. She let out a huge gasp and reached up to grip the pillow by her head in a tight grip as she felt Finn rub his fingers against her clit. He moved and his cock hit a new angle inside her that made her scream out his name. Her eyes shut tightly as she came harder than she ever had before—stars, fire, and just…everything shooting behind her eyelids.

Rachel's breath slowly returned to her and Finn's hands gripped her hips tightly, on his knees between her now, thrusting as fast he could. He threw his head back, giving one last thrust before he exploded into the condom, her own name falling from his lips as he came.

She gripped his muscular forearms and pulled him down to rest against her chest, his breath coming in pants as he buried his face between her breasts. She was still trying to catch her own breath as she ran her fingers through his sweaty hair.

"That was…amazing," she sighed. He let out a contented hum and pressed a light kiss to her skin. They lay like that for a while before Finn pushed himself up to dispose of the condom in the trash. She pulled the covers down curled up between them, watching him with sleepy eyes as he got in next to her.

He brought her closer to him and she settled on top of his chest, the blankets tucked around them. He ran his fingers through her soft hair, pushing some of it behind her ear. "Definitely worth the wait," he smiled at her and she leaned up to kiss him. "I love you," he whispered, kissing the tip of her nose and tightening his arms around her.

"I love you too," she kissed his chin before laying her head down on his chest above his heart. She let out a content sigh as his fingers continued running through her hair, gently lulling her into sleep, feeling warm and happy in his embrace.

* * *

><p>Rachel giggled loudly as Finn tickled her side the next afternoon. They had woken up fairly early, resuming their activities from last night—in the shower, on the kitchen counter, on the couch. Both of them were kind of insatiable now that they had finally been intimate with each other. Rachel had convinced Finn that they needed to get out of the apartment sometime in the middle of the afternoon and they found themselves at a little deli by his apartment.<p>

"Finnnnn," she whined as she tried to get away from his fingers. He just chuckled and brought her back to rest against his chest as they waited in line to place their order.

"I can't help it," he slipped his arms around her waist. "Your laugh is adorable."

She grinned and turned her head to look up at him, accepting the quick kiss he placed on her lips.

They finally placed their orders and just as they made their way to an empty table, Rachel bumped into someone by accident, the contents of the woman's purse falling to the floor.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" She bent down to help pick up the few items, failing to notice Finn standing completely still beside her. Confused, she turned to the woman to give her the wallet and pack of gum she picked up, only to see the woman looking at Finn with a weird look in her eyes.

"Why hello, Finn. Long time no see, huh? Judging by the surprised look on your face, I'm guessing your brother didn't tell you I was back in town." The blonde woman gave him a wide smile and Rachel noticed Finn gulp and give a tight smile.

Finn immediately pulled Rachel to him tightly. "Rachel, I'd like you to meet Anna."

Letting out a gasp, Rachel immediately dropped the items she was holding in her hands while the blonde woman smirked.


End file.
